21's Legacy
by Johann21
Summary: Lorien. They said that it's a perfect place. A paradise. Earth. They said that it's undeveloped and yet on the verge of dying. A disaster. Loric. They said that they were here to help the Human beings. Humans. They said they needed help. Half bloods. They never told the truth about them. Me. They said I was an abomination. They were wrong. They were DEAD wrong.
1. Prologue

_Set before the Great Mogadorian Expansion, Johann explores the life of being a half-Loric half-human, protecting secrets from an unknown enemy. Will he ever escape his fate?_

 **Author's note:**

 **So, this is a fanfic of Lorien Legacies I've written-idk, like a year or two ago? I did not intend to flaunt it into this large crowd since it's my first time writing a novel-like fanfiction and that my skills back then was meh-(not that my skills are great now-bit I'm just saying *I improved though. Or at least I think I did...whatever*)**

 **The thing is, i'm too lazy to edit it for the nth time so please just bear with the errors.**

 **BTW, this is actually completed (sequel included-*currently working on the third installment*) but I intend to upload bits of it so that more people could see it in the story board. It's quite boring coz what I did in here is just establish some facts about the Half-bloods' lifestyle so please just drag your eyes through it and I promise better scenes and sequences on the next books. Prologue and Epilogue parts are set from post-mogadorain invasion of Lorien, all the other chapters are set before it.**

 **I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

Prologue

It's dark down here. And cold. Very cold.

I can't feel my body. My arms. My legs. But I can feel a heartbeat.

 _"Tug tug..."_ It says.

Am I still alive? Or is this what it feels to be dead?

 _"Tug tug..."_

I think my head is playing tricks on me. I think I'm dead but there are little hints that I might still be alive.

 _"Tug tug..."_

There goes the heartbeat again. A very slow thumping beat on my chest.

That's when I felt the warmth.

 _Tug tug tug tug_...increasing in rhythm. _Tug tug tug tug..._

Soon the warmth hugged my whole body.

I can feel them now. My arms. My legs. The tip of my toes and even the weight of my hair.

I'm _alive._ I thought. I'm _still alive._

My heart started pumping blood through my veins but there seemed to be a leak somewhere on my left shoulder. A lot of blood escaped my body. My blood...my life... I've only just began feeling alive again and then this?..my blood...my life is wasting away.

A couple of minutes passed when I think I heard a muffled sound. A voice. It took me another couple of minutes to hear what the voice is saying clearly.

It says: "C'mon! Wake up! C'mon!" It belongs to a _female._

And then I heard her say "Uncle Johann please! Wake up! Wake up!" _She_ knows my name. _She_ knows me?

The _voice.._ I can't recognize who owns it.

Is it Mom's? No. Its too small to be my Mom's voice. Who could she be? Jean? No. A villager? Most likely.

I gave up figuring out the person that owns the voice who had just called my name and focused on opening my eyes.

They are heavily shut but I see darkness no more. White light has surrounded my vision.

 _The sun_ , I thought. I know the light the sun gives even when my eyes are closed. I long to see what's happening, or what has happened.

But I never thought opening my eyes would require so much effort. And when I opened it halfway, and the white light spread throughout my sight, I choked water out of my mouth after seeing _the girl_. _The girl_ who had just called my name.

I see both of her fiery hands pointed at my chest. My chest still covered with thin ice.

She seemed familiar but I can't remember where I saw her.

 _"Oh my God!_ Uncle Johann! _Oh my God!_ You're alive! I-uh- _I can't b-believe it!"_ She said shaking off the flame from her hands and cupped my cheeks with both of them still warm. "I've searched for you! Do you know that?!" She sounded pissed.

 _Anger._ I've had a lot of that going on in me. I remember my first confrontation with my Mom. She's angry. I am angry. No. She's in rage and I too am furious.

But I seemed to be sober now.

"For years I've searched! Do you know how much I needed to see you?!" She says while I just stare at her shake my wet and disoriented body. _What's going on?_ I wanna ask but...asking would require too much of me.

Okay, so imagine my hardships for opening my two little eyelids. And then imagine my exhaustion when I tried to mouth a word. _It's so damn hard!_

But finally I managed to spill not just a word but two short questions (that I thought would bring me back to unconsciousness because I seemed to have used up all my energy), "Where am I? Who are you?"

"Oh I'm sorry, I forgot. I-its me. _Dee_. Do you remember me?" She asked and then turned to look down at my left shoulder before I could process all the questions that bounced around the walls of my skull. "Oh God, this is _bad_! You're loosing too much blood. We have to go. We have to get out of here. Can you move?"

I disregarded all these questions (my questions about her, her questions about me and my questions about myself) first then nods at her. "I think I can move my feet now. Give me just a minute." Not willing to acknowledge that I'm awfully weak.

Thank God she answered, "We don't have a minute. I'll help you up. Just don't let me do all the walking for both of us okay? I parked right there." Pointing to a direction where I remembered would be an endless corn field. Parked what? A _spaceship?_

She removed her jacket and tied it on my shoulder where an open wound is bleeding badly. Then she helped me up to my feet as I use her like a walking stick and limped awkwardly towards the direction she pointed at.

This place is our secret training ground. I know the place so well because I go here to get beaten up for almost every day of my life. Until what happened yesterday.

But after we walked for like five meters from the pond. We met a 10-foot-cliff towering a handsome red car.

"It doesn't make sense." I said finally managing to walk on my own. "This is supposed to be a _cornfield_." Confusion, and questions have been reactivated.

"Well, even if this is my first trip to this place," she pats my shoulder, "all I can say is that, yes, it _WAS_ a cornfield."

And then it dawned to me. All my questions starting to form an answer. Unveiling answers about her identity and my situation. Then I finally know the right question to ask.

"What year is it now?"


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter One

"It's for _Lorien,_ my Son"

I've heard a lot about Lorien. Sometimes from my Mom but most often from my Brother's mouth. How could they leave such a beautiful, and perfect planet in exchange to this stinking, over populated _Earth?_

The answer is always simple but has a lot of meaning in it, _"It's for Lorien"_. I take it as it's for the good of all the universe since; _one_ Lorien is the most advance planet when it comes to technology and intelligence; _two_ that they are the greatest advocate of earth and _three_ they have the most powerful army overall the known galaxies. _The Gardes._

 _The Gardes_ , people with supernatural abilities that we only find in comic books. People who can make things float using only their minds. People who can carry an elephant with one hand, can intercept ones thoughts by just looking at them, can toss fireballs like human torch (except that they aren't human) and can do things no human can do.

 _Things_ humans wished they could do. _Things_ I wish I could do.

These _"Legacies"_ have a very big potential to create destruction. But the Lorics are a peaceful race, they never intended these _Legacies_ to cause harm to others, or at least most of them don't, and at least for the time being.

And in order to maintain peace, the Lorics put up a _Defense Team_ active 24/7 to prevent any threat that disrupts that peace.

And that's the same reason Mom and my brother Threin are in this planet, to protect peace.

So okay, my Mom is a _Garde_ , as a matter a fact, she's one of the most powerful _Gardes_ under the superiority of what they call the _Elders_. And so is her husband. Her _REAL husband_. In Lorien. _Surprise, surprise._

Her identity as loric must be hidden for the people of earth to accept them, _us_ ; as their own and not as _aliens._

Anyway, so Chiara (my mom's Loric name) and Jethro (the real husband) are one of the commanding officers of the _Lorien Defenses._ I never doubted the story about our... _ermm_...their family being one of the most powerful Gardes in Lorien because its not hard to see in Threin's build that is a one big Loric. Not to mention the muscles of my Mom which I'm guessing had developed from years of hard training. Her true form almost look like _Wonder Woman_ or in a more modern way, an English fitness instructor you see on _Fitness Channels._

My mom works as a supervisor of all the Lorics that protect these big stones they call _Loralites_ which serve as something I don't know what (probably for decor or for none at all), scattered in specific places of the Earth's globe. She and her staff are the only Lorics allowed to _reside_ the Earth's crust as this planet belongs to the human race.

But, why live in the _Philippines_ and why not in _England_ where they'd blend with their natural appearances?

Why pick the most notorious province in this already hell of a country, _Jolo Sulu_? And why risk forming a _"Cover up"_ life just to ensure your identity to be kept hidden?

Okay, let me answer the unlikely location of our home base first. The _Philippines_ is almost an invisible country. No one really bothers about it because its a very small country and nothing really _"important"_ happens in this place except that it is considered as _"The Text Capital of the World"_ (which means nothing really) and the ever corrupt set of government officials that robs the Philippine people with high taxes and gives almost nothing in return.

One of the biggest challenges my Mom faces in her work is the _Loralite_ stone located in _Somalia_. This place is known to be a passage way of ships that carries different products of different countries. _Somalia_ is a very poor place that they train people of robbing the supplies of many ships that pass there.

Sometimes they make the ship crews hostages and ask ransom from the government. If the government does not comply, they exterminate the crews one by one until they get what they wanted. _Modern day Pirates._

And this kind of terrorists is what gives my mom migraine. They always interfere in any activity the Lorics do in their place. Sometimes shooting down surveillance planes and status apparatus when they spot any, scrapping up whatever metal they could get from them and make them bullets.

There is this one time when the pirates spotted some Lorics going to the _Loralite stone_ and they ambushed them for robbery. The _Gardes_ of the group had to fight back when two of the loric _Cephans_ lie breathless on the ground. They won of course, but killing a human being is against the jurisdiction of the Earthen residents so before striking back they have to ask permission from Mom to counter attack. After two Lorics had died, my Mom was forced to authorize a counter attack resulting to 28 human casualties.

My mom was prosecuted by the _Lorien Earthen Council_ for authorizing the open fire. After a few trials she has been dismissed off the court by a not guilty verdict because they've proven that the counter attack was just an act of self defense.

After that event, my Mom had to monitor Somalia big time. She stationed Loric units inside the area to regularly check the perimeters of the _Loralite_ stone's location, making sure that the old ambush stuff won't happen again.

So we have to find a place that is near the equator and is parallel to it so that Mom will be able to receive direct update from her _tab_. That's why my mom picked this place to stay hidden and to stay updated by the Somalian Loric units.

The _Lorics_ ' existence in earth must stay hidden. That's why we're in this place where not many people hang out. So that no human would suspect that we're an _alien race_. And for the few people that we know, my Mom already fixed everything before they moved in here.

She met my Dad. _Not_ accidentally.

My Dad is known to be a graduate of _Bachelor of Science Nerds, major in Alien invasion_ stuff. He is a short guy with a short black hair, eyeglasses and braces (what a _nerd_ ). He's been doing this stuff even before my grandma conceived him in her womb.

He is one of the few pinoys interested in this sort of stuffs and he loves it so much that I think if you ask him what he'll choose between his son (which is me) and this _nerdness_ , he would choose the latter.

His life revolves in a galaxy not know by any other human being. And when he was so close to finding the truth about the alien race called _Lorics_ my Mom went into the picture.

She distracted him from that truth by changing her form to a woman my father would never resist. A woman not taller than him, _morena_ , petite, long black hair and eyes that is as dark as the midnight sky.

At first, I thought that this seductive act by my Mom is a very disgusting thing. But when she said, _"What else could I do? The secret of Lorien is at stake. I'm in charged of keeping peace in this planet that can only be maintained by the presence of a little loric interception, and I have to perform my duties, Yo_ (my baby nickname) _. For the sake of Lorien, my son."_ Telling the 5-year-old me in her true form when I asked her how much she loved my dad and she had to explain that she really didn't love him at all.

I'm a little shocked. But I value more the stories of Lorien with its greatness and wonders than my Dad, like it's some kind of a real comic book. Mom would always tell us (me and Threin) about Lorien as bedtime stories, together with her adventure as one of the leading _Gardes_ that sustains peace and order. Her battles with the _Mogadorian race_ and her meeting with Threin's Dad.

Well, no shock could hurt me now that my dad went to the US for a project his _nerd colleagues_ offered him when I was three, aside from the fact that he never came back even for my birthday ever since.

Even with the fact that Mom seduced my dad so she could save the secrets of the Loric race and so she could build a cover up life for herself and for her pure Loric son Threin, I loved her more that my _omni-absent nerd Dad_.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

When mom thought that Dad will never come back home, _EVER_ (as if she already knew it), she told me that she has a surprise for me. For a minute I thought that she'll give me the toy car that I've always wanted for my birthday. But when we rode a ship going to _Davao_ , she left me to her best friend _Meridith_. She said she'll be back after three weeks.

I thought I had lost my Mom forever too. Like I'd lost my Dad.

But I was wrong.

She went back. And we went home together for her _"surprise"_.

It was a surprise indeed when she brought in a 7 _year-old boy_ in my room and said, _"You've got a brother!"_ I was five back then and my idea of having a brother is a _baby_ brother.

He has this dark brown hair and light brown eyes. His height is almost twice mine and he's got this _"presence"_. An authoritative aura.

"Hey little brother. My name is _Threin_ " he said enthusiastically.

I didn't say a word. I couldn't say a word. I didn't move. I couldn't move.

"Oh! How about a hug?" He plunges to me and gave me more than a hug. He lifted me high so that my feet left the ground and he literally wrestles me as I choke for three seconds. I gasped for air when he brought me down. "Nice meeting you!"

He offers me a hand. I gave him mine and he squeezed it too hard. He doesn't look like he intended it anyway.

I was happy. I'm actually very happy about having a big brother. Though it's weird. I now have someone to share my room with and maybe someone I could share my thoughts with, the things I'd like to share to my father.

I actually don't care if he's just my half brother or whatever is the story behind him. I just thought that we could be good buddies and that would be awesome.

He was fixing his stuffs when I approached him from behind. "Are you gonna sleep in my room?"

I caught him by surprise, "I didn't steal the _ballll..._ " He jumped as if he saw a rattle snake when he heard me talk to him. "Why you? I thought you were Mom!" He faced me "And I thought you were a mute when you didn't speak a while ago."

"You stole a _basketball?_ "

"Oooohhhkkkaayy, we'll play later. Alright? Just let me unload my stuffs and we'll play err.. _trashketbol_ , whatever that is." He doesn't know much about earth yet.

"You don't know _basketball_?"

"Yeah _basketball_ , whatever."

"I don't like _basketball_."

"Yeah! Good idea. Neither do I." He goes back into fixing his stuffs, "Gimme a second will yah? And we'll play uhm..." he thinks for a moment then raises a finger, "ah! _Brawling!_ Right! _Rawr!_ "

"I like _bowling_." He gave me a confused look.

"Could you please get off my nerves for one second and I promise you we'll play whatever games you play here on earth. Okay? _Guhhh!_ " He gives up.

"Okay." Then after a while, "Are you going to sleep in my room?"

And the conversation goes on and on for another fifteen minutes, still, he hasn't answered if he's staying in my room.

And he did stayed with me in my room. At first we stayed in one bed until mom bought another bed for Threin.

We we're best of friends. We play together, we share our thoughts with each other, we eat together and we bathe together. I bring him to places I used to hang out alone and there he will tell me stories of Lorien. He would describe the _Metropolis_ as we close our eyes.

"There are a lot of wonderful things we see when we close our eyes." He would say. "Remember when you told me about your dreams last night? The one with a golden city and golden cars and golden shoe laces? Aren't they beautiful?"

"Yes they are." I saw them again as we talked still eyes closed.

"Have I told you about the _Chimæra_?"

"No, what are they?"

"Haven't I? Well you see, these are animals that change their form."

I opened my eyes and turned to him, "Animals? Like Benny?" Referring to a dead dog I once owned.

"Yeah." He answered and I looked up and closed my eyes again.

"Change forms? Like what mom does?"

"Yeah, exactly. I have one _Chimæra_ at our house. Her name is _Usha_. She likes being a cat. A cat that is as big as a car."

"Really? _Waaahh_ that's so big!"

"You bet! And sometimes she turns to a... _M-mouw_ -w-what's that thing again? _Mouwl_ or something?" A month living on earth is not enough time to learn everything about it.

" _Mouse_? Like _Mickey Mouse_?"

"No, not the nasty crawling ones _eeww._. The one that flies and makes this sound- _hooo hooo hooo_!"

"A _horse_?"

"What? Have you seen a flying _horse_?"

"A _unicorn_?" We're looking at each other now with our faces deformed from a lot of thinking.

" _Huenicorn_? What? No. It flies in the night and says _hooo! Hooo! Hooo!_ "

"A _black unicorn_? _Hooo! Hooo! Hooo!_ "

"What the heck is a _huenicorn_?"

We tried to figure out what kind of animal Usha turns into for the next hour. He jumped from description to description, and I guessed from a _unicorn_ to a _ninja_. He mispronounced _90%_ of the words I tell him.

We were laughing, annoyed, puzzled, tired of it and all the other feelings we could feel. But the dominating feeling is that we're happy.

Simply happy.

"I wish I have a _Chimæra_." I just wished.

It was mom who told us that _Usha_ turns into an _OWL_ if she wanted to fly. And when I told her about the _unicorn_ and that Threin had a difficulty pronouncing the word _ninja_ , she just laughed and laughed. And we all laughed our ass out.

That was the one of the best days of our lives. Me, my Mom and my half brother, Threin.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

We practically did everything together.

Not until summer's over and school days are coming.

I will be sent to school for kindergarten while Threin stays in our house for home school.

Mom thought that it will be risky to send Threin to school because he is expected to outsmart the normal human kids. Meaning mom will be exposed to many _awarding ceremonies_ or _quiz bees_ or _honor roll meetings_. And those are _No No's_. Besides, he has no records in the _National Statistics Office_ of this country.

Sure, forged documents and fake IDs are options but my mom never wanted to go that far for a _"poor"_ education.

She said that she could provide all the necessary _"Education"_ Threin needs to continue the work she's been doing here on Earth. The one reason she brought Threin here.

He was supposed to be assigned a _yaya_ -they call _Cephan_ \- who is to train him to be a great Garde while his parents do their designated job for Lorien. But Mom believed that Threin is a prodigy and argued about the _Cephan-Garde set-up_ , so she took Threin with her here on Earth so that she could train him herself.

And that means train him everyday from 5am 'til night time.

I am to catch up in their training after school. Mom said I'm still a half blood so the _Lorien Legacies_ also run through my veins.

I liked the idea because it means quality time with Threin. I imagined myself training with him and felt the thrill on my cheeks.

However, Threin seemed sad about it.

Aside from the 5am call time, no school means no friends and no friends means no playmate.

"We can play after I get home." I told him.

"I'll be busy too, Yo. You know, _the training_."

"I'll train with you. Training looks fun."

"Maybe. I've seen training in Lorien, they have this huge play ground for adults where they do _obstacles_ and all. It was cool. But not many of these trainees look happy to me."

"Well maybe because they don't have a brother to train with. We can help each other out." I paused for a while, "l guess."

"Maybe."

But _MAYBE_ is a sign of uncertainty, and there are 2 or more probabilities to choose from when you use the word _MAYBE_.

 _MAYBE_ , as an idea is never promising, never reliable and never assuring. But we risk on a lot of _MAYBE_ s, coz when we don't, we put out _HOPE_ from life's vocabulary.

Well at least he got me.

But we both know that it isn't enough to be just us. We're kids and every kid wanted to have friends. I guess.

I've never had friends before Threin but when I first went to school, I already knew what he's missing and he will be missing for the rest of his childhood.

Nope, I haven't made friends yet but there are kids who talked to me (although I never replied, I only nod, or shrug or smile) and the feeling is very _new_.

That was the first moment I felt butterflies in my belly but it's not like when I broke a plate a month ago when the butterflies means a warning for an upcoming punishment from Mom.

It's more of a good thing. It's an _excitement-plus-fear-plus-happiness-plus-weirdness-plus-awkwardness butterfly_ thing which I don't know if Threin will experience in his Loric training curriculum.

Plus I get to see not only boy kids, but _girls_ too. That's another new to me. I've seen a very cute one and I'd like to be friends with her immediately. Except that I feel like a mute and she never even turned her eyes to me.

Not yet I guess.

" _Maybe_ she'll talk to me tomorrow." I said to myself.

 _Maybe_.

I exited the school ground excited with all these new stuffs I've learned.

A hired _tricycle_ is waiting for me just beside the school's side gate (the school has 3 gates: the front gate which is the main gate and the side gates, my exit is on the right side).

The driver's name is _Tony_ , a chubby bald guy wearing a yellow t-shirt with some print I couldn't read.

Yeah right. Guess what? I can't read _YET._

He heard me singing _"Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"_ as I approached his vehicle.

"Is that the first song you learned in school?" He asked.

I just nod and went inside the sidecar then a series of bumps and maneuvers followed as he drove the rocky road on our way home.

"Did you know that the song you were singing a while ago is actually composed by the genius _Mozart?_ " He said when we stopped at the entrance of our front yard. "When he was a young kid like you, he already knew how to play the _violin._ " He is now picking my bag from inside the car.

I just stared at him while he told me more about _Mozart_.

"Once, his dad brought him to a concert, and you know what he did? He wrote every single note of every single instrument of the music played that night. _Take note_ , he only heard the music once and wrote the entire concert piece perfectly! _Not one mistake_ , lad. Not one mistake." We are now halfway through the front yard.

"Really?" I was mesmerized.

"No joke." He waves a finger.

"What's a _violin_?"

"It's a little instrument that sounded like a woman's voice."

"Do you think I can play that too? Like _Motzhart_?"

"Of course if you study, you'll learn to play whatever instrument you'd like to play."

"I hope mom would buy me an instrument."

"Oh you don't need to buy, little man. You already have one."

"No I don't. Dad and mom never had an instrument." We are talking in front of our door for almost five minutes now.

"Maybe they don't, but you do. You already played it before you went inside my sidecar." He said handing me back my bag. "Your _voice_ is an instrument you don't need to buy." he shook may hair and went back to his tricycle. I stood there and watch the smoke of the vehicle as it slowly vanishes when the he turned to a corner just 10 meters away from our yard.

Okay so that'll be the first misconception I've been corrected about life: _the human voice is a musical instrument._

But I'm not entirely human, am I? What's the difference?

 _Whatever._

Took me a while to process what Mang Tony just told me, and it took me a while to realize that the first friend I'd made this day is not a classmate. Not even a kid, but a fully grown adult with a shiny head. I liked him immediately and I'm actually looking forward to hear more stories from him tomorrow when I'll go home after school's finished.

It was lunchtime then and I just dropped my bag on my bed when Mom called me to the dining room.

Threin is already sitting by the table munching native _chicken adobo_ and _rice_. I took a seat beside him.

"What did you and Mom do?" I whisper as if I'm asking him a forbidden question.

"We played hide and seek for many hours." He answered casually.

So much for pitying him, I thought maybe he too enjoyed his day as much as I did.

When I knew that the first half of training went well, I immediately shoot mom a question.

"Mom, is _Motzhart_ a Loric?"

" _Motzhart_? I've never heard of him, honey. Who is he?"

"He is a kid that has a Legacy of writing the tune of a song even if he just heard it once." I heard about Legacies from Threin and I always thought that anything could be a Legacy.

"Is there a Legacy like that, Mom?" Threin joins in. He asked confirmingly more than curiously.

"Yes there is. He used it in a concert. Right Mommy?" I said trying to be smart.

"I'm afraid there is no such kind of Legacy, Yo." I felt a little sad. "But let me check this _Motzhart_ in the Loric database first and I'll get back on you, honey. I'll see if I can find him and his mysterious Legacy in there. But as for now, finish your meals coz we have training to do. Okay?"

Mom led us inside the forest about two kilometers from our backyard. She made us ride a wooden cart together with a red sports bag and pushes us until we reached a hidden spot.

The place is located at the foot of a mountain. A little waterfall runs down somewhere from the mountain forming a pond near its foot. A small stream serves as an exit so that a small amount of water flows to the heart of the forest. The place is pretty much surrounded by big trees of which trunks and leaves serves as a good cover from the sun and from any eye who tries to peek down from above the mountain. Almost like some sort of a roof. On the northwest side of the pond you can see a hint of tall corn crops. Although no one seems to harvest them. Maybe they're wild corns. Which makes me wonder if there's such a thing as a wild corn.

It's a perfect hideout. I don't think any villager knows this place.

While Threin and I watch small fishes dance in the shallow part of the pond, mom unloads her sports bag from the cart. And when she tossed it to the ground, the sound it created told us that it's very heavy.

She opened it and grabbed for a ball. A blue _beach ball_.

"Alright boys! For the rest of this year we will be playing ball catching." My eyes and Threin's eyes met with excitement.

Training is fun we thought.

"Although, as time passes by, I will be tossing different kinds of balls. For now, we will start with this _beach ball_." She said and we agreed. "We only have one rule. Once the ball is tossed to your direction, you have to catch it so that it will not touch the ground and then you pass it back to me. Got it?"

"What if we fail to catch it?" Asked Threin

"There will be a punishment." She answered.

"And that punishment will be...?" My gaze travels from my brother to mom. I'm as silent as a stone.

"Hmm.. Let me think..." she said in a soprano voice, "...okay how about, for every ball that touches the ground you get one _push up_."

"What's a _push up_ Mommy?" I finally mouthed.

She demonstrated how to do the _push up_. "Now you try."

I positioned myself to the ground and tried it. When I thought I successfully made one, Mom lowered my butt and made me do it again. This time I barely managed to push myself up.

Threin made five already. He's good at it I guess.

"You're so cute! So, how was that?" She made us stand again.

"This game is intense!" Threin answered.

"That is the essence of the word training, son. Stop grumbling and position yourselves. Threin, move a little farther to my left."

He moved.

"A little more backwards."

He moved again.

"Perfect! Now Yo, you just stay in that spot okay?"

I nod.

"Are you ready?!"

We shouted "Yeah!"

Bring it on.

"Here it goes!" She aimed for Threin at my far right. He caught it and gave it back to her. She then tested me and threw the ball a little higher than the way she threw IT to Threin. I think she's taking it easy on me.

I raised my hands to a catching position and the ball falls right inside it.

"Good catch boys, now we'll make it a little faster, shall we?"

When I tossed the ball back to her, she immediately diverted it to Threin. He didn't see it coming so it hit his face before it bounced back to Mom, she quickly tossed it to me with a little gentleness and I caught it again. "That's a _push up_ for you Threin, and a good job for you, Yo." I tossed it back immediately.

Again she aimed for Threin, but Threin is much more ready this time. Just as we thought she'd toss it to him, she released it to my direction still fixing her gaze to Threin.

Then it's my turn to get hit in the face.

"That's one for you Yo, pay attention coz I'll be passing the ball randomly. We are not doing _alphabets_ here."

Time runs without our noticing when Threin had collected a total of 34 pushups, while I collected 56.

Three hours had passed and we're done _"playing"_.

We were about to start paying for our _taxes_ when Mom said she forgot to mention that Threin's consequences is doubled making his collection exceed mine.

" _Whaaa?_ That's unfair." He grumbles though I can see him smiling. That wasn't a grumble. He actually thinks that's fair enough.

"That's how it's done from now on." She told us smiling back. "Now get yourselves to the ground!" She commanded.

Mom took a plastic of _Carabao mangoes_ , a large plate, a small bowl, a knife and a plastic of _bagoong_ out from the bag. She started peeling off the mango skin while we were doing _push ups_.

After we have payed our taxes and it's time to eat, I can feel the pain on my arms. Still, I'm happy. We're all happy.

After we've eaten, Threin told me stories about Lorien again and how he already misses his Dad (I missed my Dad too).

As we talk, I saw Mom holding a _tablet_ that looks like small TV. She set it on a stone as an image of a man appeared on top of it. The man projected by the tablet and Mom talked for about thirty minutes or so.

"I think he's one of the other Lorics that resides here on earth." Threin whispers.

"I haven't seen him around." Wondering if he's from the neighborhood.

"Maybe he's stationed somewhere beyond this area. Like in _Manila_ or even outside this country."

"Oh I see."

"Mom told me that they too are hiding in secret places to keep the Lorien secrets."

"Do you think they have kids like us too?"

"Of course they do. Mom said she knows most of the Loric families here on earth and a lot of them have kids. But you know, they are from different places so we might not be able to play with them. _Ever_." A look of sadness formed in his eyes. The only hope that Threin will have friends here on earth is limited to the kids of our own species, and the fact that they are far away from us only diminishes that hope to almost no hope at all. I'm sure he had friends back in Lorien, but is he ever going back there?

 _Maybe._

"We can ask Mom if she knew some kids of our own kind somewhere in here?" I told him. More in a form of a question than a suggestion.

"Yo, you know what?" He asked looking at me blankly. "You're a _genius_! Why haven't I thought of that before?" He slaps his forehead. "That's it! At dinner time, we ask Mom if she knows any Loric kid in the neighborhood." He continued with too much enthusiasm. "Who knows? _Maybe_ there's one."

" _Maybe_." I shrugged.

Mom's mood seemed to be boosted by her conversation with the digital guy coz she turned to us with a smile that stretches to her ears and said;

"Okay boys! _ROUND TWO_!"

We're dead.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

We did the same kind of training for quite some time. Same time, same area, same ball and same consequence.

We're getting used to it that even when Mom no longer holds back we get lesser and lesser push ups. Her moves are predictable now, and our bodies react at first sight of a launching ball.

"Well well well. My little boys are getting keen!" There is a sign of pride by the way we stood. "It's time for the..." She pauses and grabbed a white ball inside the bag. "The _volleyball!_ " She exclaimed.

"Mom, that's still _JUST_ a ball. It's just smaller and white, and I'm going to catch it the same way I did with that _LAME_ beach ball." Boasts Threin. I nod in agreement.

"Well yes it is _JUST_ another ball. But how about this?!" She threw the volleyball _AND_ the beach ball to Threin. He caught the volleyball alright but the beach ball bounced on his forehead knocking him off and sending the volleyball away from his grasp.

Both balls touched the ground and he was penalized four pushups for it.

She didn't pause after that attack, she quickly grabbed the loose volleyball and shoot it to me. My stomach caught it before my hands do.

Although I wasn't taxed for catching the ball, I still suffered pain of being punched around my mid section. It's hard to tell which is better.

Both of us haven't recovered yet from the recent blows we took when Mom sung a statement:

"Brace yourselves boys."

We turned and saw that she's holding another ball. A ball that is _SO MUCH_ bigger and _SO MUCH_ heavier than the first two.

Guess what? A standard _basketball_.

Catching two balls thrown at you at the same time is freaking hard, but adding up a much bigger, heavier ball to the recipe is _insane_.

I _hate_ basketball.

Today's tally; Me: 86 Threin: 68 x 2 = 136. It turned out Mom only intended to toss to Threin. She must have thought my limitation as a 5-year old half blood and she must have over estimated the pure blooded Threin because he got pretty beat up when we finished.

Mom never seemed to have pity on us in every training when she just watch beside a big tree, monitoring the number of push ups we did. Sometimes she indulge herself with a cup of coffee and occasionally talks to digital people from her tablet.

She seemed to get busy nowadays though.

I dozed off after paying my taxes while my brother struggles to finish his.

The following day, Mom seemed to be pretty satisfied with our recent _performance_ when she told us we could have a couple of days off to our training and that she'd give us _rewardS_.

"First off, is bye bye to." She said.

Thank goodness.

"And hello _spiked metal balls_?" Asked Threin, his face still deformed from multiple ball hits. He had a bruised lip when punched him right in the face.

"Can't get enough of what happened last night, dear?"

"Oh I've had _MORE_ than enough of _IT_ , thanks." He sounded pissed.

As usual, I just observed.

"Was it because I didn't send you to school like Johann?"

Oh yes! Mom said there are no Lorics around our area that has a child the time we asked her about it. The night after our first training.

I guess he must have been a little jealous because almost everyday I've been telling him my experiences in school. How my teacher called me in front to lead the singing of our national anthem before our class starts. How I met the two friends I'd made so far, _Haji and Errol_. I told him about _Jean_ , a cute girl that I want to befriend, talked to me once when we're having our tooth brushing time (in which we never understood our mumbling to each other. _Great!_ ). How every after classes, Mang Tony would tell me stories about the great musicians and composers I've never heard before.

But he couldn't relate because he worked with the same training Mom requires him to do. Nothing more, nothing less. He never had the chance to meet and interact with any other person that is not me or Mom.

I wonder how hard that could be.

"Oh my dear Threin, the Loric people needs us my son. I tell you, once you're standing in my position you wouldn't trade this privilege for the world. And besides, you've only been here for _five months_. We'll visit Lorien as soon as September falls for your Dad's birthday. And then we'll be back there for the _Quarter Moon_ festivities, and then on your birthday then mine. You'll see your friends in no time, and you'll never miss them coz we're visiting four times each year." She cups his face as we sit by the windowsills.

His eyes seemed to light up a bit and the pouting lips have been diminished.

"I'll just get something for _Teev_ and _Daxton_ then." He sighed in satisfaction. Mom smiled and nodded at him sympathetically.

Then, I took the chance to shoot. "Can I come to Lorien, Mommy? I wanna see Usha and fly with her and..."

She gave me a stare.

 _Now it's my time to grieve_.

The eye is a window of one's heart. I know what the stare implied. Sadness is written all over it. Sadness that wishes it could someday turn into happiness, only that's not happening. Like a worm who wishes to be a butterfly someday. But that can never happen. Worms don't turn to butterflies. They never become anything else.

"Only pure bloods are allowed, honey." She smiles sadly.

There is no such thing as Cephan _metamorphosis_ turning them to Gardes. No such thing as Humans evolving to Lorics. And half bloods are not even close to any promotion to being pure bloods.

No such thing.

Or is there?

Mom handed us new clothes and shoes to wear. She said they were gifts from _Mildred_. A half-blood Loric whom she says is a family friend.

"So these are the _REWARDS_?" Says the disgusted Threin as he put on the new garments.

"Gifts are so much different than rewards, Threin." she explains " _Rewards_ are earned, _Gifts_ are just given." And then she added "Which one's better for you my son?"

He shrugged. "I dunno. They sounded pretty much the same to me."

"I like gifts better." I said.

"You really are a young boy, Yo." She chuckled.

"In that case I choose _rewards_. Because they're FROM Mom. So Mom, the BIG question is, where ARE the _REWARDS_? I'm dying to hold them." Threin does something that portrays his feeling of dying-to-hold-em thingy.

"A little patience never kills honey."

"Okay. Seriously mom, that's too much _hermit talking_ for one day." He grumbled.

" _Hermit talking_? Is that your definition of Metaphors my dear?"

"Yeah whatever Mom! Can we do this?" Says the impatient Threin.

"Alright then!" Her palms met each other in front of her chest, then she threw them upward while saying, "We're going downtown!" In a soprano sound. "Surprise!"

That's...totally... _NOT_...normal.

We went there to board a ship for Davao. The town is practically full of people. That's where the market place is located, meaning it's where all the humans go to buy their supplies. Usually, Mom goes there once a week to get supplies too.

But not today. We are coming with her. Which is a miracle. We never expose ourselves with too many humans (Except me going in a school).

We keep ourselves away from neighbors to avoid any contact that could mean casual talks and interrogations. Things that can screw us and the secret that has been entrusted to us.

It's a mystery indeed.

But who are we to not grab an opportunity to enjoy childhood? Of course we'd go! Without hesitation.

"On _ONE_ condition. No talking to anyone but ourselves okay?" She added.

We understood.

So we went out of the house to meet my first friend, Mang Tony, just outside our gate waiting for us. I was happy to see him.

"Hi Mang Tony!" I immediately said but I had to stop myself and cover my mouth.

When I looked back to Mom expecting her to scold me, she just nodded a statement "It's okay. _He's okay_."

A sign of relief escaped my breathing even after seeing Threin slap his forehead.

He turned to Mom who is now smiling to Mang Tony.

"Good morning Mang Tony. Thanks for picking us up here." She greeted.

"No problem Ma'am. What time did you say I'd meet you at the plaza?" He answered.

"3pm on the _Kanluran_ exit."

"The front of _Kasak's Bakery_?"

"No, that was the opposite side. It's in front of _LBC._ "

"Oh yeah right! Of course Ma'am."

Mom chuckles, "Looks like I know the place better than you do _Mr.T_."

"Hahaha, forgive the old that I am _Madam_."

"Apology accepted."

Threin and I are just watching them awkwardly as they address each other like they've been friends for a long time.

Before we board the sidecar Threin draws circles at the side of his left temple.

When Mang Tony sees me inside his vehicle he rubbed my hair and said "Well, well. How's our little Mozart doing?"

I smiled at him, then to Mom then to Threin. Proud of being recognized by Mang Tony.

"Oh, so that's where the _Motzhart thing_ came from huh?" Mom confirms. I nod with pride.

Mang Tony starts to fire up his bike and we went on to the road towards the downtown.

"I remember now that one of the Loric Elders disguised himself as a young musician in _Vienna_." I assumed that she's confident of saying Loirc things aloud because the vehicle's sound is already loud enough to conceal them from Mang Tony's hearing. "He was known to be a child prodigy. Little did they know that he's actually a Loric." She chuckled. "He uses the Legacy of shaping the sound of the notes, combining them together to create a great music." She added. "I've never listened to music ever since I was assigned here on earth. What a waste."

Ate Meridith used to sing me lullaby's whenever I wouldn't go to sleep coz I'm afraid that Mom would never come back for me. That she has left me alone in Davao and I'm never going back home. That she's gone forever like my Dad.

On the other hand, my Mom never sang any note to us when she came back (with Threin) for me five months ago (except the soprano voice she used to imitate during our trainings but that _doesn't_ count as music. _Seriously_ ). Of course I'm glad she never left me like my nerd Dad, but the point is that I'm deprived of one of the most beautiful things I've ever known in my life. And of course Lorien aside.

"He knows how to play the violin." I said fascinated at the topic.

"Does he know how to play dodge ball? I might like him if he survives 10 balls tossed at him. Like _BLAM_!" Threin buts in.

"Even if you toss him _fifty balls_ at the same time, he'd manage it, Threin. He is the most powerful Elder. He is _Pittacus Lore_." Mom answered.

"That! That I like!" he turns to me, "I like him already! Sounds like he's not some _weakling_ after all." He said folding his arms at the back of his head.

"Hey! I liked him first!" I said, "And it's not even about playing dodge ball. He knows how to play instruments." I said angrily.

"Yeah whatever. Music is _sooo_ lame. Who needs that stuff anyway?" He said.

"Hey! It's not lame! It's cool!" My face already red.

" _Blah blah blah.._ "

"Stop it Threin. We have different likes and dislikes. You're brother here seemed to appreciate the _softer things_." Mom cuts calmly.

I gave him a tounge and faced the opposite direction. He mocks me by laughing out loud.

 _Softer things. Softer things. Softer things._ I repeat those words over and over again in my head. _Softer things. Softer things._ I don't get it. I don't know if that's a sympathy or an insult. Well it hurts and I felt stupid. So I guess its the latter.

We fell in silence for a little and it was Threin who broke it.

He poked me and my initial reaction is to face him. "Hey. Sorry. Well I-uh don't mean to hurt you. So I'm sorry. I'm being such a jerk."

Mom smiled. I smiled. And I forgave. He hugged me. I hugged him back.

Took us fifteen to twenty minutes until we reach the downtown. My butt's aching when we got out of the sidecar. Mom and Threin never seemed to be affected. Maybe Mom's just used to the every week long rocky ride going to the downtown.

But as for Threin, well, maybe it's because it's his second time riding a tricycle and that he is doing every screaming and _"YEAH-ing"_ as we maneuver the steep paths of the road.

By the time we've waved Mang Tony goodbye (for a while), Threin is so hyper that he jumped and jumped and shouted and _yeah-ed_.

"That ride is sooo coooolll! Nothing in Lorien! Nothing in Lor..ri...en.?"

 _Shoot!_

It's as if someone has pressed the slow motion button midway his careless speech. We are slowly facing our backs to see Mom's expression, our faces deformed as we anticipate her wrath that might send us back home any minute now.

She...was...just...smiling...

Except that it's not a smile. A smile that is full of annoyance, aggravation and hatred. But restrained. Restrained in a grin full of teeth.

 _Shoot!_

She walked towards us, still smiling. No. Towards Threin, still smiling. Pinched the side of his left underarm. Still smiling. They walked towards a direction, still smiling. Still pinching. Pain is written all over Threins face. Eyes wide shut, lower lip bitten by his upper teeth, right hand cupping the fingers that are still glued on his flesh and a funny walking as his tormentor pushes him to a direction.

"You know son, _I THOUGHT_ we agreed that we need to keep our heads down, _DIDN'T WE_?" She said barely breaking the smile on her face.

" _Uhhh-ouch!_ Y-yes we _diddd_. S-sorry Mom. I-it won't h-happen ag..ain. _Ouch!_ " He receives the final blow.

Mom pretended to dust her old blue blouse (in the form she usually uses to fool people about her nature) and brushed Threin's head. "Now we comprehend each other."

"We do Mom! _We do!_ " Threin comforts the skin that held the pain of the previews attack.

He gave me a nudge and whispered, "Why do I always get the beating?"

And I just gave him shrug.

We walked around the town square and find our way to the market place.

Although the view is familiar to me, I never really explored the downtown in my entire life. I try to look at as many booths as possible because I thought they sell very interesting things like fabrics, _macaroni_ , veggies, meat, all kinds of fishes-big and small, canned goods, beans and rice.

Threin would ask questions to Mom whenever we pass by something unusual (to him).

"Mom, what's this _eeky_ thing? And what's _it_ for?"

"That's a _squid_ , honey. _They're_ for cooking."

"It's got _worms_ on it's mouth! Who's stupid enough to eat that?"

"They're called _tentacles_. Humans do."

" _They're_ weird." He turned to me and said " _You're weird_ , you know?"

At first I thought he was just teasing me, but then I get it. Yup, I'm a part of the general noun: Humans. I'm a part of the Human race. A race that eats _eeky_ tentacles and stuffs. A race that the Lorics have been monitoring ever since. A race with no Legacies like the Lorics do but is capable of producing massive destruction and death to it's very own kind. A race that cannot be contained by peace.

In a way, I am a part of this race, meaning, I am capable of doing the things they could do. I am capable of bringing chaos and death. I am capable of inflicting pain to my own kind. I am capable of doing stupid things. Things like eating squids and their _eeky_ tentacles. Humans indeed are _weird. I_ indeed _am_ weird together with _them._

But then I thought, that's not entirely true. I am human but _not_ entirely so. I'm _also_ Loric. Coming from a Garde parent, I am also capable of developing Legacies. Legacies that are not meant to hurt but are meant to sustain peace amongst the people of Earth and of the people of Lorien as well. A race that are most advance in moral and technological welfare. The coolest race ever existed. And if they are cool, then I am cool as well.

But then again I thought, that's not entirely true. I am Loric but _not_ entirely so. I am human but _not_ entirely so. _I am both._ And that means I am a combination of light and darkness. I am a potential hero but also a promising killer. I can either bring good will or destruction. Or I can do both. If the power of legacies is within my reach, and if I'm a potential destroyer, how much of a threat am I to the very peace that the Loric people are striving to sustain?

I don't know, I can't know, I-i just don't know what I'm supposed to be.

 _What am I?_


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

"Pick your toys, boys! I'll just use the bathroom." Mom says as we arrive in what appears to be a big warehouse of stuffs.

They call it _THE MALL_. I've never seen this kind of place in before and I have never imagined a paradise such as this. "And by the way, you stick together and do not go too far. I'll be back in a second." She left us in the toys section.

"Wow! This is incredible!" Threin shouts while looking at a _Robot_ toy. "It's so...wait what does this button do?" He pressed it and the robot started moving its waist, wailing some sounds and flashing lights on its guns.

"Wow. that was so cool." I say quietly.

"Yeah, the humans have very nice toys."

"Why? Don't you have toys in Lorien?"

"We do. But not these kinds of toys. We play ball games, pretty much like the ball game we did in training. And some stick picking, word scrambling. But not these, they never make toys like swords or guns or robots that shoot blasters. No planes with missiles like that one on the corner. Nor little soldiers armed with various ammunitions like that on the 3rd shelf. No. None. Nothing like these. Toys back there are boring."

"Why?"

"Because we are a _PEACEFUL_ race _REMEMBER_? Weapons like these are not necessary in Lorien." He sets the robot down and it started walking. "My friend Daxton once said that these things always result to a fight. A _fight_ then can be bigger and result into a _war_. He said that these things are bad. I do believe him alright, but these can be bad, but they can make you look _manly_ too. And besides these are just toys, what could it do but imitate the sound of a falling missile?" Threin rebooted the robot and it starts doing it's routine again. "But even if these are real, I won't be needing any of these. I will develop Legacies that own! After all, the Legacies are the most powerful force in the universe." He raises a Karate chop, " _Hiiiiyaah!_ " Then takes a toy gun and aims it at my forehead. "This only makes me look MANLY. _Bang!_ "

"Cool." I nudge his gun and went straight towards the coolest toy I've ever seen. "I want this! Does it make me look manly, Threin?"

" _Whoa_ , so you like _that_ kind of combat huh? Put it on your side and pose for it, brotha."

I did pose for it. I bent my knees, lower my head and put the _SWORD_ on my left side. I try to imagine how a _Samurai_ would look like before drawing his sword for an attack.

"Now that's a _warrior_! _Very manly_ dude. _Very manly_."

"Thanks. I'll cut you in half!" I yell as I drew my sword.

"Oh yeah? How about this?" He drew a different kind of sword and charged to me. " _Hiiiyyaaahhh!_ "

" _Hiiiiyyaaaahhh!_ " I raced towards him too. And our swords met each other.

He tossed me another blow but I deflect it easily. The movement was a familiar one. I almost did it instinctively, but with precision and coordination. It was something like our ball trainings. Like you have to catch the ball no matter what, only this time you have to dodge it.

Not really knowing what I'm doing, I turned around to fully deflect his sword and hit him with mine on his open side. It was as if my muscles knows what to do, I only need to look for an opening and there the sword goes.

But he is as good as a dodger as I am but he distanced himself from me.

"Good counter, you almost got me." He changed his tone to a chalant sounding one, "I underestimated your powers, human. Now, DIE! _Hiyyaaahh!_ "

I didn't hesitate to charge forward as I see him closing at me. "No! YOU DIE! _Chhaaaaa!_ "

We make a multiple _"Kaching"_ sounds as our swords meet with each other failing to wound the opponent. We do our best to slash each others intestines out but we never hit each other's skin. We always find a way to avoid each other's attacks.

I find it easy to predict his incoming actions so deflecting them is not a problem to me. The only problem I'm facing is how I could cut his head off because he seemed to know how to predict my movements too.

I have to change my strategy and I have to do it fast because he is now making his way on to me. When I knew there's not enough time to try and meet him in the middle of our gap, I stayed put. I wait.

"I'm going to amputate you, you little twert!"

He dashed to me and raises his sword for victory.

I stayed. I waited. Waited for the right moment to come. The moment where he would wound me but I with the cost of losing his head.

Then I saw it. I can do it. I can...

"Kids, what are you doing?" It was Mom.

"Oh Mom! we are just about to finish our fight." Threin answered lowering his sword.

"You were fighting?"

"No Mom, it was just a game." I laughed.

"Yeah, you should've seen us try killing each other. Ha!" He said. We laughed.

"I guess I'm a little late for the action. Have you picked your toys yet?" Mom asked.

Threin grabs the robot and the gun he was playing with a while ago. He began fiddling on the robot and lets go of the other toys he's holding. I hold out my sword to Mom.

"Can I take take them both?" He says to Mom.

"That's it?" She sounded surprised. "I mean is this all?" She replied unbelievingly.

"Uhm, how many toys are we supposed to... Uh... _allowed_ to pick?" Asks Threin.

" _RewardS_ , kids. I said _RewardS_." She pulled a shopping cart beside her and kicked one to Threin. "I can't believe you boys. Other kids would cry for toys, but you..? You just don't know how lucky you are, do you?" She pulled another and pushed it towards me. "Fill 'em up boy scouts." We stood there jaws dropped of what we've just heard.

She really is unpredictable. She's acting weird today. First off, the day offs. Then the idea of exposing ourselves to many humans here in the downtown. Thirdly, the way she conversed with with Mang Tony as if he's been a friend of hers for a very long time. And lastly, letting us pick as many toys as we wanted. All happened in a few hours before lunch time.

It makes me wonder how many more surprises are in stored for us for the rest of this afternoon. But before that, I have to savor this moment and indulge myself with all the toys I could take home.

We were about to run to different directions when Mom told us to stick together as much as possible because she'll be going to the grocery while we pick our toys.

We did what Mom told us for a couple of minutes then agreed to give each other the freedom to go to the direction of whatever toy we want, provided that we will meet at a certain point every ten minutes.

I swept through a shelf full of toy cars, trucks, trains and airplanes carefully picking one of each kind.

All the other kids around looks at me amazed on my half filled cart. I guess stuffing a cart with toys is not a normal thing for a child my age coz even the sales staff looks at me intently whenever I pass one.

"Hi! Are you gonna buy all that? Coz if you're not and you're just playing around, we're gonna have to put them back to their shelves." Finally, one of the salesmen tried to ask.

"No, my Mom will be buying me all these." I say. Hesitant of making eye contact with him.

"But where is your Mom?"

"She's in the grocery, she'll be back to pick us up in a while."

"Us? You mean, you're with that _boy_?" He points to Threin who's cart has been more stuffed than mine.

"Uhm, yup. He's my brother." I waved to Threin, he notices and waved back. The salesman turned his head from Threin to me, scanned me from head to toe. Perhaps looking for any resemblance.

"O-alright then. Just don't misplace too many toys from their shelves, okay?" And he watched me push my cart towards Threin.

"What did he say to you?" Threin asked when we met.

"I-I was afraid that he'll take my toys away from my cart so I answered him." Tears are forming in the corners of my eyes. I know I'm not supposed to talk to anyone. "Do you think Mom would still buy me a toy if she knew I talked to that man?"

"Nah! No one's gonna tell her. Unless you spilled our Loric secrets? Which you didn't, right?"

"No! I didn't. I just told him I'm your brother. Is that as bad as the secrets?" I whispered.

"Don't think so."

"Did a toy guy came to ask you anything?"

"No, I guess they must've thought that I'm a foreigner. They left me alone all this time, but I think at least two of them wanna try. And if they do, I'll pretend talking in another language and I'm sure that'll keep 'em away from me forever. _Hahaha!_ " We laughed. "We still have plenty more shelves to sweep through. Meet up here after ten minutes?" I nod at him.

When we turned to go to our targets, we saw a rack of basketballs, volleyballs and beach balls beside a shelf.

"Are you gonna get one?" He asked me.

I shook my head violently, "No thanks."

"Yeah! No thanks you little _peep squeaks!_ " He kicked the rack of balls and we laughed our way to our own destinations.

I didn't take everything, I just took every interesting toy I see (w/c is pretty much most of everything). I was almost satisfied of the toys that I've just picked when I saw an action figure of _Batman and Robin_. As I look at it, I imagine myself as the _Robin_ and Threin as the _Batman_. So I packed it in. I thought it would be great to give Threin the _Batman_ action figure while I'll keep the _Robin_ , it's like a symbolism of our brotherhood. I hope he'll like it.

For a reason that I don't exactly know what or why, I found my way heading to the girls' section (maybe because of a huge teddy bear standing by the corner) when I saw an _egg_ - _like key chain_. It was pink. The color of the girls uniform in our school, and has a little rabbit inside. I don't really know what it does except that it's supposed to be a key chain. It's about the size of a real egg but it's light and smooth and soft. While looking at it, I know I want to give it to Jean. I thought maybe she'll like it. So I took it but put it deep in my mountain of toys so that Threin and Mom won't notice it. They might think I like _girlie toys._ Or the _softer things_ for the matter.

"Threin? Johann? Where are you?" It was Mom calling us up from one of the cashier counters.

I emerged to meet her there since I've already finished my toy shopping. "Where's your brother?" She asked me. I shrugged. "Threin?" She calls out again.

"Just a minute!" Threin calls back from nowhere.

"Okay, hurry up. Johann is a little hungry already." She must've read my mind because I really am famished after the two hours of picking up toys. She smiles at me when she looked at my now full cart. "Is that everything you want, dear?"

I nod in confirmation.

"Well, what do we have here? Wow you picked a guitar. You really want music do you now, my dear?" She pat may head. I smiled at her and hugged her left leg since that's as far as I could reach.

"Let's start paying for your things while waiting for your brother." We unload the contents of my cart to the cashier. Again, all the other kids around me watch in jealousy in seeing my items punched by the counter. The Cashier herself couldn't believe her eyes as she swipes one item to another.

"Early Christmas shopping, Ma'am?" Her question blended with the beeping of the cashier machine.

"No, they're just for my boy here." She answered with a smile.

"Boy, you're one lucky kid." She just punched the pink key chain! Good thing both of them are not looking at my items.

"Threin, you're taking too long, honey. C'mon over." Mom shouted.

"Yeah yeah! I'm coming Mom!" He emerges with a mountain of toys. _Literally_ a mountain of toys. The cart is so full that some toys drop whenever the wheels of the cart meet a bump. Mom took a basket and transported some of the toys from his cart.

"You've got to be kidding me." Whispered the cashier after seeing the mountain-like toys of Threin.

"Kindly put these on a separate box, please?" Mom said to the Cashier as they arrive the counter.

"Yes Ma'am." She replied in disbelief but in a tone suitable for a sales clerk.

When the cashier had finished punching our purchases, Threin poked me and pointed a to a direction using his lips. When I turned to see what's in there, I saw the toy guy (the ones that talked to me about putting my toys back to their shelves) watching us. He drops the toy car he's holding (and he also drops his jaw) as he sees Mom pay in cash. When he turned to us, Threin puts his left index finger under his left eye and pulled the flesh downward towards his cheek and extended his tounge out of his mouth to the toy guy.

" _Isshhkkrruu yyouuu!_ " He said with his tongue out. I joined him and extended my tongue out to the toy guy too. When the guy saw us, he just left in embarrassment.

 _Sweet revenge_.

"Ma'am do you want to ask for assistance in carrying your packages?" The cashier tells Mom looking concerned about our two heavy boxes of toys and three plastic bags of groceries Mom had purchased a while ago.

"No thanks, no need for that." She answered her.

"Are you sure Ma'am? I can ask one of our crews to help you up with those boxes." She insists.

"We can handle it, right boys?" She said.

I have a bad feeling about this. Does she really think we could carry all that weight?

Threin got what Mom meant, "Yeah, we can handle them." This is actually a part of the training we're supposed to have a day off with. He then lifted the to boxes to boast of his strength.

"See?" Mom nodded at the cashier.

"Okay Ma'am, if you insist. Well at least use one of the carts if you're still gonna stroll around the Mall. It's allowed to use the cart upto the west wing and the parking lot." She offered.

"Thank you so much." Mom replied as Threin loads the boxes to a cart.

"Thanks for shopping also, Ma'am. Have a great time." And we waved goodbye to the Cashier.

We followed Mom into a _grilling restaurant_. She said she haven't tasted grilled food and that she always wanted to give it a try. So we went in and a girl ushered us to a table and took our orders.

"Is there anything you want to eat kids?" Mom asked.

"Hotdog!" I said when I saw a picture of it in the menu.

"I don't understand any of this so, just order me anything I can chew." Threin said giving up on looking at the menu.

"Alright then." She turned to the girl, "get me one of these, and this, and this and I think I'll have this one too." Pointing pictures on the menu, "Does this come with rice or we have to order it separately?"

"It's separate order Ma'am, how many orders of rice would you like to order?"

"Three."

"Drinks Ma'am?"

"Boys, drinks?"

"Soda!" Threin shouted.

"Orange juice for me." I said.

"And an Iced tea for me." Mom told the waitress.

"Anything else, Ma'am?" She said while scribbling on her notebook.

"Give us a half gallon of Ube ice cream for dessert."

"Okay Ma'am, the grill will be ready after fifteen minutes."

"Thank you."

The Waitress left and we chatted for a while about our new toys. When the food arrived, Threin and I looked at each other.

"Tentacles? _Ugh._ " Threin prevented a puke from coming out of his mouth upon the sight of a large grilled squid.

"I've always wanted to try it." Says Mom in excitement. "Let's eat!"

After lunch was over, Threin asked Mom to buy _grilled squid_ for take out. He says, he wants it for supper.

Now I'm confused. Who is more _human_ now?


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

We left the cart as we exit the west wing of the mall. And Calvary begins.

"You carry your own burdens kids, don't let me do all the hard work here okay?" She's pertaining to the boxes that weigh about thirty kilos each. One box is approximately double my own weight. How am I supposed to carry a thing that is almost double my own weight? I may be stronger than any kid at my age or any normal kid at Threin's age but this...I don't think I can do it.

But I have no options but carry it or I will never see them in my room.

I tried to lift my box from the ground with both hands. To my surprise I was able to lift it. This might be the result of doing push ups for five months. The only problem is, I can't walk with it. My box is about 3/5 of my whole height, it's impossible for me to carry it while walking.

I'm about to lose hope again when Threin offered me a hand. He is carrying his own box with his right hand and started picking the rope of my box with his left.

Mom glares at us. Enough to tell us _I'm_ cheating.

There's nothing I can do. I was the one who filled up the cart with too many toys, and Mom already gave me a favor by buying them all. A favor I never thought I'd have. I was the one who packed my own burden, and I should be the one to carry it. I became blinded by my greed that I didn't see the consequences of my actions. Even when my buddy offered me a hand, there's nothing in me that is worth his help. It is not his fault that I'm having a hard time now, he is not obliged to help me. And there's nothing, nothing I can do now that it's time for me to take full responsibility.

So I tried again. I inhale for strength and brace myself.

I huffed again and lifted the 30-kilogram box. It was as easy as my first lift. But now, it's time to face the real problem.

Walk with it.

 _I took a step_. I almost tripped. I need to establish my balance.

I did. Good.

 _Second step_. I'm pretty aware of my balance now. Success.

 _Third step_. Perfect. Just perfect.

 _Fourth step_. Excellent.

 _Fifth step_. No, no, no.

 _Sixth step_. Barely.

 _Seventh._ Not counted. I tripped. And I'm falling face first to the ground fast.

I can't prevent the fall so I just prepared myself for the soil I'm about to partake in my mouth when I hit the ground. I don't scream. I don't look for any safety handles. I clutched my arms around my head almost as immediately as I admited my defeat. There is no sense asking for help. No sense trying to save myself. I failed to carry my own burden. It's much more easy to let go. Admit my limitation and welcome its punishment.

What I did not expect is a hand ready to catch me. A hand who is always there to help me. It's my half brother's left. He caught my right shoulder as he lays down his box.

I fell into a kneeling position instead.

"You okay?" He asked as he dust my trousers and searches for any bruise. Fortunately there's none to worry about.

I stood to retrieve my box from where I dropped it and answered, "Yeah. I'm okay."

He took his box on his left hand again and locked his right fist on the rope of mine. When Mom tried to eye us again he said, "I put some toys in his cart and told him it's fine to get as many as he can so I think that means I drove him to fill his own cart. And that also means we share his _burden_." That's true I remember him put 3 to 4 toys in my cart before we decided to split up, and he did say to me to get as many as _I WANT_ , not as many as _I CAN_ handle so basically he's telling the truth, only that it's not completely true. What is four toys compared to a hundred? And when he said I can get as many as I want, I already saw the chance of bringing the whole toy department in our house. "He was just about to take the sword and the guitar so I said he'll need to get as many so we can busy ourselves playing these stuffs while you busy yourself doing your work without us bugging you." Now that's a pure lie.

"Okay, fine." Says Mom sternly. "Next time, you have to be more responsible, Johann. When you grow up and become a man, do not commit something more than you could bear because when you see the consequences, it's easier to just give up or run away." I can almost hear her say the words _"just like what your father did to us"_ at the back of her head. Then she shifted to Threin, "And you, tough guy. It's alright to always offer help, but you need to let your brother alone sometimes. You're going to make him weaker instead of making him stronger."

"I told you, I influenced him to _grab 'em all_."

"Yeah yeah alright alright. I know you got my point." We totally did get her point. "Let us not keep Mr.T waiting by the plaza."

I am in the brink of tears when I learned my second lesson in life. Too many pleasures may result in to too many responsibilities.

And I'm very very sorry that I've been too greedy.

Mom turns to me, "All you have to do is say _it_ , Johann."

Huh? Say what?

Oh well I just have to say I'm sorry.

"Sorry Mom." With tears. And hug. And all.

"It's okay now sweetie. It's okay." She hugged me back.

Threin flashed a thumbs up in my peripheral.

Then I thought of him. He is always the strong ones, and that could only mean one thing; I am the weak ones.

Until when does he have to help me, or save me? All this time I've always been the one incapable of helping, even helping myself. It's pathetic. I'm pathetic.

After that moment, I promised myself that I will no longer be weak and eventually be able to help Threin and make my Mom proud.

"I'm gonna have to get back on you. You can't fit inside my side car with all these." Says Mang Tony as he loads the last plastic bag inside his vehicle. "I have to go to Raha Shiram Abdhul and fetch his carabao milk and deliver them to Julie's. I'm afraid I won't be back until eight, Ma'am. I'm sorry."

"Oh I see. It's okay, I just hope we could stay somewhere else aside from the mall. I can't breath in there, I don't like the smell of their fumes." Mom replied.

"You could stay here a little, and then the carnival opens by 5pm." He answered pointing to a massive wheel with cabins.

"Oh yeah, good idea! Good thing you mentioned the carnival. I thought they won't be around until next month."

"They arrived early. As you know, the southern part of Sulu is under state of calamity. So instead of going there, they chose to stay here up until our festivities."

"The calamity. I just hope _they_ are all fine, I've got to know who's caused _it_."

 _They? Who are They? And IT? What is IT?_

"Don't worry too much, they'll be fine." He turned to me and said "And ma'am, I have a feeling we shouldn't be talking about this as of the moment." He must've noticed me listening to their _"grown-up" conversation,_ and even if Threin seems oblivious I know he also listened to their conversation.

"Alright then, please pick us up in the carnival as soon as you can."

"Roger that."

 _Roger what?_

 **I hope they're okay. I cannot lose another Garde anymore. And I can't afford to lose** ** _Meelek_** **either. After all that the Lorics had done to him, he had the guts to betray us.**

 **I have to. I have to protect our secrets. But for now I'll have to protect my Garde units from this bastard.**

 **He must be stopped before he reaches one of our Loralite stones. He cannot be allowed to travel back especially now that the Quarter Moon festival is coming. He is no longer worthy of the land of Lorien, no longer worthy of being a Garde, not even worthy to be called a Loric.**

 **If I could just pursue him myself then he can no longer cause any more problems.**

 **But I can't just leave my sons in here. They're still young. They can't even cook rice yet. Especially Johann. He's still too young. He still needs to learn to be independent, and he's not yet ready for it. I know his limitations being a half blood but he still is my son and I know somehow he's stronger than any other half- bloods out there.**

 **But he is** ** _not yet_** **ready. And I'm afraid that he'll** ** _never_** **be ready.**

 **Oh,** ** _Kevin_** **why do you have to be so meek and let your son inherit that trait of yours?**

 **I'm also worried about the training. No Cephan can ever achieve such a leap of progress in such a very short time. Threin has to be strong enough to defend himself even before he develops his legacies. And if we stop now, that will cause too much delay on his progress.**

 **Their progress.**

 **And if** ** _Meelek_** **knew about them, without legacies, they'll have no chance of fighting back.**

 **It's too risky.**

 **My hate for** ** _Meelek_** **heightens as I think of my kids. He will never lay a finger on them. Not while I live. And if I die, I'm not gonna leave my sons with** ** _zero percent_** **chance of winning.**

 **I need to focus on training them.**

 **As soon as Threin and Johann have developed their legacies, only then will I face** ** _Meelek_** **to kill him.**

"Do you think she's okay?" Asks Threin standing on a swing next to me.

"Don't know." I say enjoying my time with my own swing.

"She looks bothered all of a sudden." I looked over to Mom from afar and saw what Threin saw. She is clutching her palms together and occasionally tightening her jaw. She's sweating real hard even when the weather is cool and windy. That's weird.

"What should we do?"

"I don't know. Do you think we should ask her?" I shrugged. "Yeah, me neither. And even if we do ask her I don't think she'd ever tell us about it."

"Yeah."

"Has she already found out about the _ballpen_?" He whispered.

"What _ballpen_?" I heard him.

"The _ballpen_ that I..." Then he hesitates, "No. Nothing. Forget it. I-it was another thing. It has nothing to do with this."

"Okay." I said innocently and enjoyed my swing again.

We entered the carnival gate as soon as it opens by 5pm. The sun is about to set so the booths' lights are all opened, although the beauty of its colors are yet to bloom after dusk.

My eyes can't get enough of all the lights, sounds, games, shows and rides. This is more extravagant than the market and the mall.

I like this place.

"Oh well, this is no better than the ones in Lorien. It's practically old fashioned and ridiculous. Look at that..." Threin pointed at a black tent, "Sign board reads:

 _Know what future holds,_

 _Hear stories untold,_

 _Eyes that see each code,_

 _Every young and old._

Sound's weird and stupid to me." He adds.

" _Uncle Flavium_ has this Legacy of seeing the future. He once foretold that I'll be living in earth for a long time, and then I'll be back home. Mom hasn't thought of bringing me to earth back then. But after two years, when it's time for me to have a Cephan, she suggested to Dad that she wanted to prepare me for _future duties_." He pointed to another booth, "Look at that. It's crazy."

"And then what happened?" I brought him back to track.

"Dad agreed. Not until we landed earth did we realized what _Uncle Flavium_ had foretold."

"Awesome!"

"You bet. And they..." he pointed to the fortune teller tent again, "...are making money out of it. We don't even know if what they're saying is really going to happen. They are simply making things up trying to make people believe. But they won't fool a Loric. We have Legacies and that's always reliable."

"What if they have the same Legacies as _Uncle Flavium's_?"

"That's not possible. Gardes are _not_ supposed to make money out of their Legacies, especially the earthen inhabitants. On our way here, Mom told me the restrictions that I have to consider as I live here on Earth. She said that the Earthen Loric Council supports all the operations of the inhabitants. And they are also funding for the inhabitants' financial needs, so basically the Lorics are taken cared for as far as money is concerned. They don't need to take a job here on earth, but some Lorics do take jobs to blend in. But not a kind of job that's connected in their legacies. Often they choose to apply to small jobs, or put up a small business to keep their heads low." He paused for a moment " _Oh!_ I forgot to tell you that _Uncle Flavium_ 's voice is so deep, it was kind of hilarious actually." He raises his chin up, extends he's chest out, puts his hands on his waist and pretended to sound adult. _"Your son will live a long life on the Earth's soil and will do great things for both Earth and Lorien. But he will die, yet his death will be your real Legacy. So you should keep him safe, do everything you could to not let him astray."_

"He says you're gonna _die_. Aren't you afraid?"

"Nope. For as long as _it's for Lorien._ "

With that, I share his thoughts.

Mom's already been acting indifferently, so we just did a lot of walking until Mang Tony arrived. We ate dinner with him before went on to the road going back to our village.

Mom didn't talk much. There's been too much silence. Maybe because all of us are just exhausted after a long day.

Summing it up, it was an awesome experience. We get to do things we don't normally do. And we got a whole toy department waiting for us back home.

It was all thanks to... Oh wait! I remember Mom's statement a while ago _"you just have to say it Yo."_

"Mom," I hugged her while she's oblivious.

"Thank you so much." She was surprised but she hugged me back smiling. Threin joins in and we stayed there for about five minutes, feeling each others heat of love. _Greatest day ever._

 **"What's the news?"**

 **"** ** _Eclair_** **and** ** _Ray_** **has joined their team." I can see sadness in Mr.T's eyes.**

 **Damn you** ** _Eclair!_**

 **Of all the Gardes out there why another** ** _transport_** **Garde?**

 **"What do these people want to prove? They are being used by that bastard!"**

 **"Meelek only corrupted their perceptions. There's nothing we can do to pull them back now. The only thing we could is to cut off their** ** _HEAD_** **, and they will be nothing."**

 **"I don't think Meelek** ** _is_** **the** ** _head_** **. He wouldn't do such a stupid thing if there is no means behind it. I'm sure he is just a dummy. There is a more powerful force concealed behind him. I believe that** ** _THIS GUY_** **, whoever he is, is the** ** _HEAD_** **. Meelek is not doing this alone. I just don't know who this guy is, but I'm pretty sure he** ** _IS_** **one of** ** _us_** **."**

 **"That's a theory Ma'am. What makes you think of that?"**

 **"I know Meelek. He once was a good man. He'd never do this thing without a reason. Someone must've black mailed him."**

 **Mr.T rubbed the tip of his chin, "You have a point there. I know some of the Gardes that he took as allies. And I've been wondering what must've caused them to turn sides? What must've forced them to steal the** ** _Clanberrus_** **. What must've Meelek told them so they'd sign up for the rebellion?"**

 **"I don't know, Tony. I need to see this man face to face to read what's behind his actions."**

 **"What do we do now, Commander?"**

 **"We will be leaving for the festivities in a month's time. Have the Lorilite stones monitored 24/7. We're expecting them in any of the stone locations, but considering that Meelek is here in Sulu, double your units in Somalia."**

 **"Roger that, Ma'am."**

 **"One more thing, assemble the Gardes with teleportation Legacies for our trip to Lorien. Make sure** ** _Eclair_** **is the last to turn their side. Do not let any of them be captured by Meelek and his crew. The** ** _Clanberrus_** **will not work without the** ** _Blight_** **. They will have to steal that too from Jethro's custody in Lorien. Without enough** ** _transport_** **Gardes, they won't make it to Lorien."**

 **"Affirmative. Do you have any orders left, Ma'am."**

 **"** ** _Uh_** **yes. Do not send Johann to school anymore. We must ready ourselves."**

 **"But that's..."**

 **"You heard me. Tomorrow he trains with us.** ** _Understood?_** **"**

 **"Ma'am you might wanna..."**

 **"** ** _Understood?!_** **"**

 **"W-well...Yes ma'am. No school it is."**

 **"Dismissed." The tablet beeps as I conclude our conversation.**

"Threin! Threin! Threin!" I shake him from sleeping.

 _"Wharrrtt?"_ He half glanced at our alarm clock. _"Itsshh ornly 8am, whattssshh do you wanth?"_ Tucked a pillow over his head.

"I have something for you! C'mon sit up!"

"What do you want?!" He sat up quickly as he threw the pillow upward. "Can't you see I'm..."

I handed out the Batman and Robin toy I picked for him with a large smile. "Here, you're Batman and I'm Robin."

He gestures a finger, "One second please?" He rolls over his bed and slides out his box of toys under it and started digging in it. " _Uhuh!_ " When he's found it, he handed it to me. The same toy I gave him. "I got one too."

" _Oh._ " I didn't mean to sound sad.

"Don't be sad." He said. "Okay. How about...we exchange instead? I keep this toy you gave me and you keep this toy I took-although originally I took it for myself- so that you'll have a token from me too!"

I thought that's fair enough. I accepted it.

By then Mom enters our room.

"Stand up! Rest day's over!" She shouted.

"B-but I thought we have two days off?" Asked Threin.

"Plan's changed. We train immediately after breakfast." When Threin's about to raise another question she cuts him " _No more questions!_ Get up!" And she leaves the room immediately.

Threin and I just shrugged at each other.

After breakfast we headed towards the pond and started training.

Mom now uses _tennis balls_ for us to catch. The smaller the ball the harder it is to catch, because of its size and its speed. But we quickly got the principle after a few drills, we didn't get much taxes to pay for when we got home by 7pm.

"Johann, no more school starting tomorrow." She said to me on our way home.

I was about to object when I thought about my adventures in school. The singing, the friendship, and my first crush. How am I going to give her the key chain?

But when I thought of what I've promised, It became my resolve so I just answered, "Okay Mom."

I can tell by the looks of her that she's a bit surprised by my attitude about not going to school. "Good."

"But Mom, Johann is..." Threin was cut again by a _no-more-questions-asked-look_ of Mom.

"Ready yourself Threin, we will be leaving for Lorien next month. Johann will stay at Meridith's for another month. The Census is about to be released later by dinner. Dress up coz your Dad, Jethro, will be speaking to you through the tablet."

Threin sensed the urge to address a circumstance, "Mom, what's wrong? Something is not right in here." He replied.

"I said _NO QUESTIONS_ , didn't I?" She's pissed.

"But we were okay just yesterday! You can't just be angry at us without telling us the reason why you're doing this!"

"You're too young to understand Threin! There are things you cannot comprehend because you are too young and naïve to process it."

"Try me."

"Not gonna happen. Not today. You're not yet ready."

"You just saw our progress Mom, I only got 16 push ups a while ago. Johann got 10! We get it! We know your next moves! We know something now! We're not that young anymore! And we're not humans, Mom! So don't treat us like them!"

Mom is now very pissed that she slapped Threin, "Just because you can catch some puny little balls doesn't mean you can kill a _Garde_ already!"

 _Kill? A Garde? Why?_

"You want answers huh Threin?" You can see tears and confusion in Threin's eyes. "We are under attack! _By our own kind_! And if you are not going to be strong enough when the fight comes down to us, you'll be dead! Both of you will be dead!"

"It doesn't make sense?" Says Threin.

"That's what I've been telling you a while ago. You are naïve! So stop acting like an adult when you know you're not!" Mom tries to compose herself. "Stop asking questions. From now on, I'll tell you bits of it as you grow stronger. So you have to be stronger to uncover the whole truth. Because you are still too weak to handle it. Knowing it without enough strength to fight against it is vanity. Prove me your strength and I will give you what you want to know."

Threin dressed his best when we arrived home. He is about to face his father through a hologram.

"He's very formal, you know? He doesn't want to see me wearing a T-shirt or a jogging pants. He always wanted to see me dressed in our traditional Loric suits. This suit. Even if it doesn't _SUIT_ me. I never really wanted to wear this stupid suit. But what could I do? I'm _just_ a kid." I didn't answer. I didn't know how and what to answer. So he chose to divert the topic, "Come, I'll introduce you to him. I bet he also wanted to see you." He clutched his arm around my shoulders and pulled me towards the kitchen.

"We are not discussing about _this_ again, Jethro! Don't give me that kind of sentiments because you know the reason behind my actions!" She's angry again.

At least not to us.

"You've proven your actions wrong again Chiara, that's what I see. You said that when you isolate Meelek there on Earth you'll be able to extract the information about the where abouts of the _Clanberrus_. But where is it now? It can't be found! And so is Meelek!"

"That bastard had already convinced other Gardes to join the _insurgency_ before he even got here on Earth. You should've known that his transport was a part of his plan to convince more members to join his army when he was still in your custody! And now that he has escaped because of your lack of _Intel_ , you would put the blame on me?!" We were stucked behind the kitchen wall listening to the conversation.

"I admit. We have our own faults, but you have yours too. You didn't go to Mexico to greet him there two years ago. Why? Because you said you can't." He lets out a mocking chuckle. "You know Chiara, Meelek is not the only _bastard_ running around the Earth's soil."

"Stop doing _that_. You are only trying to complicate things instead of trying to help me out in this hell I'm living!"

"You were the one's who made it complicated." Mom didn't reply. "I don't have much time, where is Threin?"

She tried to compose herself and sound casual. "Threin dear, Daddy's waiting for you."

"Wait a minute." He whispered to my ears. After a minute he gestured me to stay and he walked out from our hiding place. "I'm here." He said to the hologram.

"Good. The _Tenth Generation Earthen Census_ has finally arrived. Since your Mom is the Commanding officer in there, the Lorien council permitted to give you the _Number 1_. And I will enlist you after you give your statement of confirmation."

"Wait dad. First off, I just wanna say I already missed you."

"Don't worry, you'll be home soon."

"I know. But I just want to say that. And I want you to meet my best friend here on earth." He signal me to come out. I came out, head bowed out of shyness.

Mom looks at us with wide eyes.

"His name is Johann, my half..." He was cut by a loud sound. Mr. Jethro slammed his right hand on his table that broke in half after the impact.

"I did not summon anyone but you, Threin! I don't care _who he is_. Just get _him_ out of my sight!"

Mom quickly led me outside the kitchen and hugged me as she saw me shocked by what I've heard.

I was crying.

And she too was crying.

After the great day comes the most painful night of my life.

"Why'd you have to do that Dad?! That's rude he is my..."

"You have no brother Threin! And never will you have any! That boy is _not_ a part of our race! He is an _accident!_ He will _never_ be your brother because he is _not from me!_ Now just give me that damn statement so we can finish here, will you?!"

"Dad you're...and Mom you're..." He stops himself from his rage against his parents. "Okay I'll record my statement." He says trying to sound calm.

"Good. You've got one shot so don't screw it." presses a button somewhere around his table and as it beeps, Threin spoke.

"I, _Threin Azodnem_ , a pure blooded Loric Garde, am here to confirm that I'm a part of the _Earthen Loric Inhabitants_ located at _Jolo, Sulu, Philippines_." He paused, "I therefore accept to be acknowledge by the council as _Number 21_." 's face reddened. "Where the second exceeds the first." began to stand in rage against his son's statement. "I accept all the terms and conditions of the Loric Council upon reading and studying them in the Earthen Syllabus as I stayed here for approximately five months, three days, two hours and twenty minutes." Threin looks at the hologram of his Dad with full conviction.

 _"I..."_ He fixed his gaze at 's eyes

 _"am..."_ fixes his eyes to him too.

 _"Number..."_ Threin slowly moves his face towards his digital father. Defiant.

 _"21."_ He turns the tablet off.

The following day, and for the rest of the month, we tried to dodge balls blindfolded. Mom already set up a tent and a swing so we could take a nap there on breaks. She also let us throw tennis balls to the mountain foot as hard as we can so that she can test our strength.

Of course, my strength never matched up with Threin's.

After one of our breaks, Mom talks to me heart to heart.

"I have arranged your transportation to Meridith's tomorrow, Yo. We need to leave this evening. Mr.T will pick you up by 10am and he'll escort you upto Meridith's." Mom said during one of our lunch breaks.

"I don't wanna go to Meridith's place anymore."

"You can't stay here on your own, son."

"All my toys are in here, and I wanna stay in Mang Tony's place instead." We all know now that Mang Tony is a Cephan after we've gained some strength to uncover another _TRUTH_.

"The reason why I'm sending you to Davao is the fact that Meridith is a half-blooded Garde. She can protect you more than Tony if anything bad happens."

"I still don't wanna go." I said. Mom has been treating me lightly since the night I heard them talking with .

"Okay honey, if you insist. You'll stay with Tony. Let me just cancel your flight for a while."

"Thanks." And then we waited for the next session.

And then we waited for their departure.

Before riding the boat, Threin whispered to me something "I'll be bringing something for you when we get back here buddy. I promise."

I nod and watch them vanish on the vast ocean.

 **"First squadron, how's your position."**

 **"New Mexico's clear."**

 **"How about you there,** ** _Redd_** **?"**

 **"Clear, no sign of any of** ** _'em_** **."**

 **"Good. All African pure bloods will travel to Lorien in two hours. I need you to stay alert for any sign of Meelek." I looked over to our boatman, Anton. "Aren't we there yet? We're taking to long."**

 **"Not yet Ma'am. In fact we've been faster compared to your first transport." He said.**

 **"Why does it feel like we've been traveling forever?!" I can't focus knowing Meelek is on the loose.**

 **"Ma'am what are you worried about?" Erin spoke from the back.**

 **"I have a bad feeling, Erin. I can feel him closing in." Threin sits quiet in one corner.**

 **"It's not gonna be easy for him to breach our defenses."**

 **"Mom?" Cries Threin.**

 **"How do you think he's managed to breach the loyalty of those Gardes, huh Erin?"**

 **"Well that's..."**

 **"Mom!"**

 **"What's the point of this whole defense activities if he can convince our soldiers to turn against us? What if he convinced our defense personnels?! What do you think will happen?!"**

 **"Mom!"**

 **"Will you shut up Threin! I didn't give you any permission to speak up, soldier!"**

 **"No! I won't shut up until you look behind you!"**

 **I turned to see smoke hovering above the Somalian Island. Thick black smoke. And fire the brightens up the night sky.**

 **Shit! The defense camp! It's burning in flames!**

 **"What the hell?! Anton, contact Redd immediately." Forget this stealth travel crap.**

 **"Roger that!"**

 **I jumped in the front of the boat and focus my hand to the warm water which turned ice cold after two seconds. I focused again and made an ice path for our boat towards the far end of the shore in front of us. "Erin, give us a push."**

 **I try my best to make the ice path reach the shore as quickly as possible while Erin uses her super speed legacy to push our boat forward. "How's Redd?!" I shout to Anton.**

 **"** ** _Negative_** **, commander. He's not responding."**

 **"Damn you Redd! You said everything is okay! Keep his tablet beeping until he picks up! He needs to tell us what's happening."**

 **I look at Threin. He's panicking. I can't do anything for him now. Our priority is to reach the camp as soon as possible.**

 **"Any news yet, Anton?" Good thing we reached the shore after about 1 hour earlier than our scheduled arrival.**

 **I can smell the smoke hovering thick above us and can see clearly where the fire has taken it's hold.**

 **"Not yet. I'm tryinna...** ** _N-no wait!_** **He** ** _beeped!_** **" He quickly placed the tablet on the sand and opened the communication.**

 **The sound of gunfires and explosions are clearly heard, erasing almost any message Redd tries to communicate us.**

 **"What's he saying?" I hate delays.**

 ** _"Payr...p-payrtssss..rrrtsss..."_** **Redd says.**

 **"Redd we can't hear you! We can't make out any word you're saying!" Erin adds.**

 **Redd seemed to move to a less noisy place. And we heard it. We understood what he's saying. What he's trying to communicate to us. And as we here it, I became afraid that we've already lost the battle. That we will be as helpless as they are in trying to defend the camp for nothing. We will not be able to stop them.**

 **They are invinsible...because they are...**

 ** _"Pirates!"_**

"I'll pick you up tomorrow morning and I'll teach you how to fish." Mang Tony said as I insisted to stay at our house for the night.

"I don't wanna go fishing, Mang Tony."

"What do you wanna do then, Yo?"

"Don't know." I guess I just wanna be alone.

"Alright I'll take off now. You sure you don't wanna come, lad?"

"No thanks. I'm fine." Maybe.

Mang Tony let's out a sigh, "Alright. Whatever you want."

"Hey wait!" I forgot to give him something. Threin and I have been playing it for a while now and I think this will be of good use to our situation now. I handed Mang Tony a _Radio Transmitter._

"Oh, a radio. Right! Bright thinking boy." I just nod at him. "Okay, I'm just around the corner if you need me. You can just call me if anything. I don't mind you calling for a midnight snack or something, just call and I'd be there. Okay Lad?"

"Sure. Thanks."

" _Adios little amigo_." He took off.

After about ten minutes, I picked up my radio and muttered something to it. "I'm very very sad. Over and out."

He didn't call back.

 **"Do not engage!" I know we** ** _shouldn't_** **. "I repeat, do not engage!"**

 **"We haven't but they're closing in." I can feel that he is nervous. "I'm afraid we'll have to retaliate soon! They've reached the first line of our defenses, commander. We need orders. And we need them fast! They're bombing us so hard that the southern gate is burned to ashes. Commander we need your orders!" I'm getting more pissed.**

 **"We're on our way there. Until then, do not do anything stupid. Okay?"**

 **"I'll try not to, Ma'am."**

 **"Good, just hold your positions and be ready to engage. You're free to go if anyone's been hurt or taken captive. But as much as possible stay put." I turned to Anton. "Take Threin with you, follow me but walk in shadows."**

 **"Affirmative." Anton took the disoriented Threin by the hand and they turned invisible.**

 **"Erin, scout through the woods, we still don't know what's out there. I will go straight towards the camp. Meet me halfway."**

 **"With great haste." And she went high speed to the direction I pointed her.**

 **I run straight to the woods and called a pack of wolves along the way. If anything happens, these pups may come in handy.**

 **I see the flames that ate the whole of the southern gate as we approach the camp. And then I saw the Pirates with their guns and grenades, marching to the second gate. There are many of them. Too many to count.**

 **What are they doing here? And what do they want? How did they know this place?**

 **I kept our distance and ordered Anton to contact Lorien for confirmation to engage this battalion of pirates. And as expected we were not allowed to touch them.**

 **"What the hell are they thinking? Do they actually think they could just let these pirates to the Loralite stones?" Before I could order Anton to send another request to engage, the pirates had began shooting at the second gate.**

 **I need to do something. Behind that gate is Redd and my Garde units. There won't be any place to hide. If that gate is breached, we will have to fight back lest they discover the location of our Loralite stone.**

 **As they are about to bomb the second gate, someone used a telekenesis to detach the bombs off the gate.**

 **It's Erin. I can see her running through the pirates disarming them with their guns. Although Erin's got a super speed legacy, it's impossible for her to disarm nearly a hundred pirates without having a fight from them. As soon as the pirates saw Erin's act of valor, they point their guns up to her and open fired.**

 **"** ** _Shit!_** **I can't just stand here. I'll have to help her." I ordered the wolves to attack the rear of the pirate lines as I run past to Erin turning pirates to blocks of ice. Erin now screams to make a piercing sound that made some pirates stunned. I use my telekenesis to shield her from a hundred of bullets that made their way out of the guns of the enemies. I managed to stop most of them, and she was able to deflect the others.**

 **The wolves had done their share of taking away a few of the pirates, but we are still heavily outnumbered.**

 **Four of the pirates had managed to plant another set of bombs on the gate. I successfully turned two of them to ice before they could reach the detonators, but the other two had successfully detonated the bombs that broke half of the gate and left four Lorics dead on the ground.**

 ** _"Shit!"_** **I remember the ambush that happened two years ago. But I also remember Redd waiting for my command. "Forget the Jurisdiction! Engage now! Now!"**

 **They did not need anymore words from me, the word** ** _"Shit"_** **and four lying breathless on the ground are enough for them to return fire.**

 **"Do not let any of them live! Kill them all!" I said for I know there shouldn't be any human witnesses to this event.**

 **I float over a crowd of pirates and attacked them from above with dagger-like icicles raining down on them. About 8 person died on that single attack.**

 **Erin puts on her wrist shield and swept through the pirates using her spear.**

 **Ten other Gardes are stationed in this area including Redd, and they did their share of taking down pirates after pirates using different kinds of Legacies.**

 **The pirates are desperately trying to shoot us down with their puny guns and grenades. But only their number diminishes as the battle goes on.**

 **Not until they've learned to focus their attacks to just one Garde at a time. Their first target was the flying Garde named** ** _Caspar_** **. About twenty pirates fired at him all at ones, he wasn't prepared for that number so he fell from being hit by a dozen of grenade launchers. When he fell down they turned their fire to another Garde. And then to another until we were down to only six of us left.**

 **Me, Erin, Redd and the remaining three teleporting Gardes.**

 **Less than half of the pirates remains, and we thought that we'll easily take them down. That's when about thirty more pirates appeared for reinforcements. The second wave is about to come.**

 **"Redd!" I turned to Erin "Erin!" Then pointed to the three "We can't afford to loose the other three Gardes. We have to protect them with our lives. Is that clear?"**

 **"Crystal." Says Erin.**

 **"Alright let's do this. Redd, on my cue, take away their visions. I will turn their feet to ice to limit their motions and to prevent them from moving towards our stone."**

 **"Consider it done." Answered Redd.**

 **I pointed to the telepoting Gardes, "You, and you, teleport and take away those on the right. My wolves will help you out in there, but if you sense any trouble, teleport to safety okay? Redd will cover you." They nod. "I will try to interrogate one of them so we'd know what they're up to. Erin, you cover me."**

 **"Roger that."**

 **"And you..." Referring to the the girl teleporting Garde, "...stay beside the Loralite stone and when the worse comes to worst, use the stone to transfer yourself. Bring the news to the other Lorics." She nods.**

 **"Alright people! Move out!" I shout as second wave begins.**

 **Everything went as planned. Redd emerges with his blinding light Legacies that temporarily took the visions of our opponents. And I took that time to make their feet hardly glued to the ground with ice. The teleporting Gardes swept through the right side of the enemy lines with the help of my wolves and Redd. And Erin escorts me as I try to hunt down the commander of the enemy units.**

 **It was a perfect plan, until one sound distracted us all.**

 ** _A tablet_** **.** ** _Anton's tablet_** **. It beeps for an upcoming call. He holds the tablet. He also holds my Son.**

 **Some of the pirates have turned their gazes to the direction of the sound. When they are about to shoot at Anton's direction, he cried out.**

 **"Screw this!" And I see him charging to the enemies leaving the tablet to Threins hands. Anton tries to fight back but with twenty or so pirates in front of him each armed with grenade launchers and high caliber guns, he didn't survive.**

 **Threin saw how he was killed just a few meters away from him. He was shot multiple times on the head and body, convulsing violently upon the shots he'd taken.**

 **Before he died I read his mind. The Lorien Defenses did not grant us a permission to engage the enemies and we will be held in custody if we kill any of the humans.**

 **He is right. And I understood him for shouting towards the enemy instead of fleeing. But that doesn't give him the rights to leave my son out there, nor the rights of letting Threin see him die in battle.**

 **So I shouted, "Erin! Get him!" Even if I didn't think Erin's speed is enough.**

 **The Pirates have noticed Threin as Anton's body fell to the ground. And they are shooting at him. He needs instant rescue. I saw one bullet penetrate his left leg. And another on his right shoulder.**

 **More bullets are threatening to blow his head off until he disappeared from where he is standing.**

 **Thank God, one of the two offensive teleporting Gardes has managed to save him in time.**

 **The death of Anton and the dangers they put my son into infuriates me. I grabbed one of the pirates and broke both of his hands. He screams in pain.**

 **"Why are you here?! What do you want?!"**

 **His mind races through the thoughts of his pain, his family and this...** ** _GOLD?_** **Someone has tricked them that they could find gold in this area!**

 **I took his gun from his side and shoot him in his ankle. "Who brought you here?! Who?!"**

 **I need not hear his word. I don't even need to read his thoughts coz when I looked back at the Loralite stone's location I saw her.**

 **The teleporting Garde that I assigned at the Loralite stone. She stands there smiling at me. A smile that is very familiar to me. I watch her slowly transform from a black girl to someone I used to know.**

 **"** ** _Eclair_** **you bitch!"**

 **I pointed the gun I'm holding to the throat of the pirate I interrogated and ended his life.**

 **** ** _How long has she been infiltrating our units? For days? Weeks? Even months?_**

 **I don't care. She caught us by surprise. And I'm not letting this whole operation to fail.**

 **But what happened next is what surprised me more.**

 ** _They all stood._**

 **The four Lorics whom we saw lying on the ground when the gate was bombed.**

 **They walk towards the location of the Loralite stone.**

 **I saw the Garde who has saved Threin immediately work on Anton's tablet when he first saw Meelek walk over the Loralite stone. He knows the drill.**

 **At the sight of Meelek, anyone in the Garde units should immediately alert Lorien Defenses. Meelek will be trying to get there for his missing piece, and that's what we are trying to prevent.**

 **As I try to stop his transport, a large number of pirates blocks our way through. Behind the fighting, I can see Meelek grinning at us. A grin of malice. A grin of greed. A grin of victory.**

 **His transport team positioned themselves for the teleportation process. And at a blink of an eye, they were gone.**

 **And we knew we've just lost our battle.**

 **"No!" I ran through the crowd taking down pirates after pirates. "Fall back! Transport me to Lorien immediately!" I say to Redd who's trying his best to watch our backs.**

 **"You go commander, I'll stay here and help Redd. He can't handle this alone." I nod at Erin while one of our loyal transport Garde teleported me to the Loralite location where Threin and the other transport Garde wait for us.**

 **"Are you sure two transport Gardes will be enough for our travel?" I asked one of them.**

 **"Yes commander, we did this once and it was successful. But it will exhaust all of our remaining powers and will no longer be strong enough for another transport."**

 **"The African Lorics will have to wait. This is an emergency."**

 **"Roger that."**

 **And we tie our arms to each other.**

 **Next thing I saw was a squadron of Gardes ready to attack.**

 **And Jethro.**

 **"What the hell?!" Says the confused Jethro. I tried skim the area for any sign of Meelek, "We were told Meelek is about to transport here, but all that arrived were you! Where in the world is Meelek?!" I saw Threin being treated by a Medic Garde behind Jethro.**

 **"He is supposed to be here by now! He is supposed to be here!"**

 **And then it dawned to me.**

 **It was another trick. They were not headed to Lorien.**

 **Not yet.**

 **They teleported somewhere else.**

 **"Chiara, what's going on?! Where on earth is..." He says angrily as I snatch his tablet from his hand.**

 **Yeah. Where on earth? Where on earth is he?**

 **"New Mexico! Come in!" No answer. "New Mexico!" Nothing.**


	8. Chapter 7

p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"Chapter Seven/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"strongspan style="font-size: 12.0pt;" /span/strongspan style="font-size: 12.0pt;"It's been long since that emincident/em happened. The emincident/em that turned our lives 180 degrees. The incident that molded not only Mom, but also Threin and me./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" emWe were never the same again./em/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" Yesterday is my seventeenth birthday. But who cares? Nobody seems to remember my birthday anymore. The only event everyone remembers is that night when 144 humans were reported dead in Somalia after a great battle./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" A battle where in only six Gardes were killed against a battalion of Somalian pirates./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" But it still wasn't a mission accomplished. Rather, it was a shameful display of retaliation by the Lorics./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" Mom was not put behind the bars though, because it was clear that Meelek had plan this attack to not only disturb Lorien but also weaken its defense faculty./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" Threin on the other hand had suffered extreme trauma for quite some time. He could not focus for more than forty five minutes. He's been haunted by the blood bath that happened that night where in he almost became one of the casualties./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" But as soon as he had developed his legacies at the age of ten (a little earlier than normal), he became vicious. And his motto in life became em"train and train to kill Meelek"/em which is stupid because we've been sparing for years now and he would not let me win a single spar because he thinks he's saving the day from Meelek every time we train together./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" Lately he's been giving me combinations of his flight and super strength legacies./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" Ask me how I defend myself from this brute Threin. With meer half blood Loric strength and stamina. Nothing else./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" Yes. Apparently I have never developed emany /emLegacies emYET/em but I don't think I'll ever have one. Maybe because I'm illegitimate and because Lorien is perfect, they don't tolerate imperfections like me so I don't get a em"gift"/em./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" I'm heading to my class now. Oh yea, I'm back in school again. But not the normal school you'd think it would be./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" Actually it's a gym. I was enrolled by Mom to emJudo/em class this time. I was six when Mom started enrolling me to emmartial arts/em classes. I've been to emKarate/em class for about 3 years. In every class I join in, I try to look weak so I won't get any attention./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" Mom admits that she is not good at hand to hand combats. So she made me enroll into them. I'm just there for the lessons though. Nothing more. All I have to do is memorize the techniques so that I could teach them to Threin after every lesson./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" After what happened to Threin in the emincident/em, Mom thought that he should learn how to defend himself in case Meelek gives us a visit and he hasn't developed any Legacies yet. At first I though it was exciting because that day is also the start of our first sparing. It turned out ugly though,when I was beaten down like a punching bag./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" But I'm getting used to being beaten. Or maybe it's because of the em"Medication"/em./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" I'd rather call it em"Experimentation"/em but em"Medication"/em seemed to be more relieving. I don't know. One time in our trainings, I got the chance to punch Threin on the face. I hit him so hard that his lower lip bled non stop. After seeing his blood, he panicked and fainted. Our initial assessment is that he has a em"blood phobia" /emnot until another training with which my kick met his gut, did we learn that he can only tolerate certain amount of pain./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" He says that his mind seems to amplify the intensity of the pain he's receiving when it knows he had a fatal blow. It's strange. But we cannot escape the reality that Meelek can inflict more pain than I could ever give him if he is to face him in a fight./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" So Mom decided that he'll have to forget how to feel pain. She asked me to try out some herbal solutions and potions made here and in Lorien every now and then to test it's effectiveness. All of them show no results on me and therefore no further results is expected to occur to Threin, so he never took any of them./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" Since none of the em"home remedies"/em worked, Mom made me drink em"Meds"/em especially made for this em"Pain Problem"/em. After I few weeks of taking them, I grew thin and pale. It never caused me anything good. The only effect we got were side effects, which is vomiting blood. We gave up on it and tried emsteroids/em./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" I've been taking it for quite sometime now. It was supposed to boost my immunity to pain, but as I see it, it is more of an appetite booster than pain reliever. I get hungry every hour and I'm gaining some weight./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" Well I don't care. I know it's for the better. Mom knows best. I'd give my life for Threin coz it's the same as giving my life for Lorien. It makes me feel like I'm a hero./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" Well at least I helped Threin. That's what I've always wanted. Help him. Save him (although the Saving part should probably come later. Or maybe not). Because I'm tired of being the one who needed help. So I don't mind being forced to enroll into emKarate, Taekwondo, Jujitsu /emand this emJudo /emstuffs if these will help Threin to protect himself. And being a subject of the emMedication /emif this implies I'm helping Lorienem./em/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" Shortly after Taekwondo lessons, Threin learned how to fly. We were sparing that time when he tried to jump at me but ended up banging his head on a trunk of a tree. Since then, Mom told me that the martial arts class will be for my own benefit./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" Yeah right, because I think I won't be able to develop a single Legacy./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" So much for a half blood, but it's okay. I don't wanna get beaten up without a fight after all. Well, if I can't beat Threin in a sparing, at least I can look cool with some emkungfu/em moves./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" But now I'm starting to get bored in Judo. It's kind of pathetic with all the wrestling and throwing. Say for example, I'd successfully gave Threin an arm lock or a wrestle. Considering his strength, he can reverse the act to mine without a sweat./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" This is stupid. And it gets boring when I can't find any use of it. There was this one time when I threw my 28-year old senior six feet above the ground out of my boredom. I try not to do it again lest they see my real strength. But I feel like doing it again today./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" I just wanna drop this class and just go to Mang Tony's place and practice the violin. I've been studying under him for quite some time now. He was like my Cephan in music, in combat and in life. He's been like a emfather/em to me especially when the rest of my em"family" members/em are in Lorien (I don't count my real father as a part of our family because he never was and he never will be in case he decides to come back). Mang Tony teaches me how I could transform a brute energy released back to it's producer. I always use it to Threin and it always works. Mang Tony says that brute fighters rely on their strength alone embut/em strong warriors uses both his and the opponents energy to win a fight./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" The only problem is that this is not emSparta/em. Threin can fly and I can't do anything whenever he floats. That's the reason why he always wins./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" Oh God, I don't wanna go to emJudo/em. I don't wanna go. I don't wanna.../span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" Alright, I won't go anymore. I'll just visit Mang Tony and hopefully, Jean is there too for her music lessons. And I hope she still remembers my birthday./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" In my dreams./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" emBingo! /emShe's here! And she sings wonderfully. As wonderful as she is./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" Well, she's not the em"type"/em of girl that everyone would prefer dating with. She's chubby and a little shorter than I am. Her hair is a long, straight black hair that flows beautifully along with the breeze. For me, she's the most beautiful girl in town. She is very smart too. I guess she's smarter than me or Threin even if we're already Lorics and she's not./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" emWooooppsss!/em Someone poke his finger in the hole I'm peaking at./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "Get in here, lad." It was Mang Tony. I hesitated but I can't do anything about it when Jean peaked at the window and waved at me. Can I? "You're not supposed to be here until 3pm."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "Class sucks." I say after waving back to Jean./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "Hello Johann. Yeah, school sucks." She laughs. I enter the door to find them working on a new song./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "Since when did you started agreeing with each other, huh emlove birds/em?" He's teases me, I know how he does it./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "emLove bird/em? Was that another character in your book?" I say as Mang Tony grabs a stool for me to sit on to./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "I actually like emlove birds/em." She answered. I almost answered em"I like them too. Because you like them."/em/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "My books are not for empuppy love/em nor for a embrain dead/em like you, lad." He made me sit beside Jean. I blushed. "Since the emviolinist/em is here, he might wanna jam with us, might he?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "Yeah sure. I just don't know what song you're trying to learn." I said pointing to the music stand in front of Jean./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "It's a french song. Mr.T here picked it up for me." She handed me the sheet music. "Title's emChantons les Amours de Jean/em. It says in the chorus that a emJohnny/em guy loves emJean/em whatever. Mr.T picked it for me since it has my name on it. And I really, emreally /emlove the melody."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" emI love you too/em. I mean, emI love that melody too. And you are my melody so../em Oh shut up! Have the guts to tell her that!/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" I snap from my trans when Mang Tony ask if we're ready. "W-w-wait! W-what am I supposed to play in here?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "Hmmm... Well I guess we'll have to play it first so you could listen to the melody and then maybe on the second stanza you can make a harmony? Or something?" She suggested./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" emGod! I'm dumb in front of her./em/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "Will you look at that? The emLady bird/em has the brains." Jean pretended to bow. "And the emGulliboy/em a emschmuck./em What a shame." Says Mang Tony./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" em Dumb dumb dumb!/em/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "W-well okay. Let's hear it?" I try to retract the conversation./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "You know lad," he wiggles his right index finger while taking a seat beside the upright piano. "I always thought you were musically gifted..." Here he goes again. "...but now, I don't..."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "Uh shut up! Can you just play the freaking song?" I try to sound tough while Jean silently laughs at us./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "Yeah yeah alright, here we go."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" The music is awesome. It's emreally really/em good. She sings it perfectly. I mean, no bias. It's emreally really/em perfect./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" And so when I had the feel. When I caught the mood. I began playing with them. Trying not to overpower the other parts of the music and just set the flow. Set the waves of the wonderful sea of pitches and rhythm. And before we knew it, the song ended perfectly./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "That's... That wasn't bad, lad. Not bad at all." He said to me wide eyed. I got a little disappointed when I heard his comment coz I actually thought It was perfect./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "No. I think it's perfect." She said and I blushed. emWe're perfect together./em "I mean I loved the way you harmonized with me. I-it was amazing. You did an amazing job Johann. You totally do."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "Thanks." I say trying to hide my red face./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "No, I should be the one thanking you. Seriously. You are an amazing musician. I've never heard anyone play like you do."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "And your voice is exceptional too. I love the shape of your voice, it's not the kind of voice most sopranos have. I mean, they like their voices thin and twangy or something." I said to compliment her back. I mean it./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "You didn't just say I'm fat did you?" She pouted./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "No! That's not what I meant. I mean I like the way you shape your voice."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "You mean my voice is fat?" She raises her right brow./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "I didn't say that. I mean..."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" She squeezed my cheeks with both of her hands, "I'm just kidding, dummy!" I let out a sigh of relief. "I know what my voice shapes like. And I think, I like your compliment. Thanks for that."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" She turned to face Mang tony who's been laughing silently at the corner. "Well Mr.T, I've got to get going now. I still have to go to the university later so, thanks for the extra fifteen minutes. It was a treasure."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "My pleasure dear angel." They shake hands after Jean fixed her things to her backpack./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "Bye Mr.T! Bye Johann!" And then she's gone for today./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" Oh my gosh! I badly wish to alter my name to emJohnny,/em how great it must've been if she sings my name in a song. I am emvery very /emthankful that I didn't go to Judo class today. emVery very/em thankful./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" The next day, I passed by the gym's lobby to drop the Judo lessons when I saw a poster. It says:/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" em"Katana Rocks! Samurai Rocks! Ninja Sucks! Learn the way of the sword and beat some Ninja ass. Enroll now! Limited offer and slot!"/em/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" emSweet!/em That's just exactly what I need./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" To kick Threin's butt, I need to learn how to swing a paddle./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" I took one of the slots. And it changed my life forever./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" As I practice my new found emArt,/em I started to win over Threin on trainings. I finally had a match with him./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" emWho needs legacies now?/em/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" One day, Mang Tony secretly took one of my favorite practice emkatana/ems and sent it to his Loric friend. When I came looking for it the next day, he said he hasn't seen it for quite sometime. And on my eighteenth birthday, he told me that he has found my sword. But before he handed it to me, he broke it into half and said that the emkatana/em was awfully made./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" He then handed me a newem katana/em forged in Lorien. Made of a rare indestructible metal only seen in Lorien. The ornaments on the handle is astonishingly crafted with a gold-like metal./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "That is called emIcarus/em. A precious metal in Lorien." He told me as he notices me running my fingers across the ornament. "It's pretty much the same with gold, only that It's very light and it never corrodes."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "How'd you get this? I mean how much?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "emHahaha!/em This sword is made by one of the finest blacksmiths in Lorien. His name is emGal Lem./em" I gave him a glare. A look that's enough to tell him em"so? You didn't answer my question."/em/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "There are certain things that you have to understand if you wanna go to Lorien." Yeah right, as if I'm going there or as if I'm going anywhere, "Almost everything in Lorien is superior to Earth. If you think diamonds are precious, think again. I can show you a mineral that is five times more precious than that."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" I shook my head impatiently, "And the point is?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "Gal Lem is a very good friend of mine. That's why when I told him to copy the aesthetics of your sword, emVOILA!/em He made it for me free of charge!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" I was about to say em"Wow, and you didn't even have to pay for the materials?"/em when he added, "The point is, nothing in Lorien's splendor can compare to the glory of a Loric friendship."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "Wow, and you didn't even have to pay for the materials?" There I've said it./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "Exactly."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "It doesn't make sense. Who in his right mind would spend that much for a emfriend?/em I mean, this could mean a lot to him and his emfamily./em"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "On the contrary, I makes a perfect sense. Lorien is one big family. And let not the systems of this world confuse you. The economy of Lorien does not depend on money. To us, money is not a necessity."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" I open the lid of the sword halfway, "The perfect planet Lorien, huh?" I gaze on my reflection on the blade, "How I wish I could go there."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "I believe you will, someday." It felt true. And I'm looking forward to it. "I'll try to sneak you there on your 21st birthday." His eyes told me he will do it./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" I cut myself from my delusions and snap to reality, "Nah. That wouldn't be necessary. I don't want you get punished for it."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "One day can't be that bad, could it be?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" I remember the time when I got in trouble for wanting too many toys,"I already have a splendid sword-emI'd bet my teacher would wish he could have one for himself too/em-what else could I wish for?" Surely this sword is more than I deserve from Mang Tony. In fact, he's never compelled to give me anything on my birthday. And I am very very grateful that he bothered to give. After all, it's the thought that counts. Mom and Threin never seemed to remember my birthday anymore, so I'm glad that someone remembered. "Thank you emDa.../em" I really wanna say it, because he's been a real family to me when all the real members of mine had drifted away. But I can't. I don't know why I can't. "Thank you, Mang Tony. Thank you so much."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" emDad./em/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" He hugged me and I return it./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" We went out it try the emkatana/em which no description can derive for a couple of hours and went fishing after that. When we got back to Mang Tony's cottage, I was surprise to see Jean fixing the table for supper./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" She said it was her mom who cooked the food when I praised the cooking (which was truly the most delicious food I've ever tasted)./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "emThat/em does emNOT/em work on me, Johann." She says./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "It's true! I really mean it. If my Mom could cook like yours do, I'll..." I bit my tounge./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "You're what? You're gonna get fat? Is that what you're about to say?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "What? No! Where'd you get that?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "Don't tell me it's your birthday, I'd still hurt you." She's laughing but I know she means it./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" We're almost done eating when she added, "Oh yeah time for dessert!" She closed the fridge after taking out a Graham ref cake. It is topped with cream, crushed graham and mango./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" When I ate a spoonful of it, it sent me to emdessert heaven./em/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "emUgh!/em Shut up." She said. There must be something in my facial expression./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "I just came down from heaven." I shoved another spoon full of the cake. "Whoever made this must be an Angel." I say while my mouth is still full./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" She shook her her slightly and said, "It is I, my dear lord." She bowed like she's a king's servant. "Thank you muh-lord."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" But it was I who washed the dishes to conclude the night./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" So much for a birthday boy./span/p 


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

"Hey pal! What's up?" Threin poked me on the back while I pack my things for Davao.

"Same old routine." I show him my traveling bag. I pack all the things I'll need to entertain Dee. Ate Meridith's daughter. She just turned one, and I promised to go there and play with her every time Mom and Threin goes to Lorien.

"What happened in here?" He dives to my bed.

Long pause.

"Nothing yet. You're going back to Lorien for _Quarter Moon_ and I'm heading to Davao for Dee. That is what'll happen."

"You don't get it. The _incident_. I-it took away our lives." His voice muffled for facing down my pillow.

"It almost took _your_ life. Tell you the truth, I don't really see any difference from before _'the incident'_ and after _'the incident'_." I lied.

"Stop pretending! This isn't a joke, man." He faces me while I put my toiletries in the bag. "Seriously. We've never been the same anymore. We seldom talk. _You_ seldom talk-which is a little normal-no I mean, I seldom talk to you and neither do you."

"Maybe it's because of the trauma. Maybe you still have it somewhere behind your skull."

"That's not true. And even if that is true that doesn't provide enough reason for us to ignore each other for _YEARS. FOR YEARS._ "

"THAT is NOT true. We never ignored each other. I think we're still best of friends."

"We ignored each others _FEELINGS_ , Johann." He began to sit down. "You see..." he stops me from packing my things. "...when was the last time we talked like this? When was the last time we hugged each other? When was the last time you told me about Jean? I don't even know your birthday anymore!"

"Don't worry about it." I pity myself a little because I always give him something one week before they depart to Lorien for his birthday.

Okay. Actually, that hurts a _lot_.

"How can I not worry about it, Yo? Look, I have to say this before we leave for Lorien again." He fixed his hands on my shoulders to make me focus on his eyes. "You are my brother, and what I'm worried about is that you are the ones who suffered a lot. I was the one present in that _incident._ I was the one whom the _incident_ had failed to kill. But what I'm frightened about is that you were the ones who was killed by _it._ " There were tears flowing from both of his eyes. "You were shut down by Mom. She barely looks at you. She never appreciate you. She totally erased your existence in this family." A dagger of ice seemed to pierce my heart and my eyes bled tears. "I. I shut you down too. I beat you up in training. All I did for what- _Like ten-twelve years?_ -is hurt you. Hurt you physically, mentally and emotionally. I thought I am making you strong but I began to realize I am wrong..." He paused, "...as I see you still have no match for me _Hah!_ " He laughed. While crying.

" _Shit!_ And you said you're serious. And you cried, man. You cried manly tears bro." We laughed. While crying.

"I was just preventing a flood. I know you can cry a lot, squirt. I thought maybe you've just developed your first Legacy." He threw his arms to the ceiling, "The legacy of flooding a whole village with tears."

" _Ha. Ha. Ha._ Very funy." I say sarcastically. "What are you really trying to tell me Threin?"

"Well, I don't know. I just. I-uh...I just thought that you were the best buddy I had ever since. You can never be compared to anyone else. I just uhm... You know, after the _incident,_ I just forgot about it. I don't know why, but I completely forgot about our friendship and our brotherhood. And I'm really really sorry for that. I really do Yo. And I hope you'd know I do."

"Threin, I'm nineteen now. I'm not the little Johann you once knew. I am strong now. Maybe not physically strong as you are, but I am strong in my convictions. I wanted to help. And one of the best things that I could do to help you is to not bother you. If you're worried about sparing, please don't. I don't want you to take it easy on me. I am not as strong as Meelek and you will have to give more than your best shot to be able to quiet him. I want you to know that I'm also trying my best to strengthen you. Because I wanna help you, and by doing so I know I'm also helping Lorien too."

"That's the sad part brother. What did Lorien ever do to you for you to give them that much loyalty."

"I donnow. It just felt right I guess. I think Lorien has given me hope, at the lowest point of my life when I needed my Dad. The stories of Lorien had given me comfort."

"Very idealistic. But I have to tell you, you're wrong. These people doesn't care about you. If they are so desirable, at least they could've just enlisted you in the _Census._ "

"We both know that the _Census_ is nothing but statistics. I can be _Number 21.5_ or something."

"Johan that's not the point. You don't have to do this if you're only forced to. You don't have to spar with me, or baby sit Meridith's daughter while we enjoy ourselves in the feasting and celebration of the Quarter Moon. You can just play the _banjo_ and maybe have a concert in America."

"It's called the _Violin_ , not _banjo_." I said, "I choose to help. I will always choose to help. And that's my decision, not Mom's. Okay?"

Threin let's out a sigh. "Howkay, if that's what you want to do. I just don't want to see you miserable, Johann. Mom's world is miserable, so is mine but that doesn't mean your life should be miserable too."

"We're in this together. As long as the secret is still intact, I swear I'd do my best to protect it. We're a family, and that's what this family do. Protect the secrets of Lorien. Protect peace."

We lagged for a while. We both know that the conversation is not over _yet_...but there's nothing much to say. If you know what I mean. Then I continued packing as he head for the door.

"Hey," he called out, "...don't think that I'm not trying take home something for you from Lorien. I just...in the past few years I couldn't sneak it out in my bag so...it doesn't mean that I forgot your birthday I'd also forgot my promise. I will get it for you this time."

"Yeah okay, whatever." I felt a little touched though.

"With that, I'll see you _next next next_ week."

"See you." He closed the door behind me. "You were right. The _incident_ had killed me instead...although I'm talking about the _other incident_. The time when the Census came for your enlisting. That was the _incident_ that took away my life." I know he's gone and that he hasn't heard me.

I don't intend it to be heard by him.

After they've gone home he didn't give me anything. Maybe he just forgot about it again.

 **Meelek has been quiet for the past ten years. My guess is that they are trying to figure out how the** ** _Clanberrus_** **works.**

 **I don't even know how this** ** _Clanberrus_** **thing works too. In fact none of us knows how these ancient items work, only the Elders knew what they are for. All I know is that once the** ** _Clanberrus_** **is activated by the** ** _Blight_** **, then and there will we be able to see what the** ** _Clanberrus_** **is capable of doing.**

 **The** ** _Blight_** **was supposed to be kept in Jethro's custody. But after our defeat in Somalia and our failure to protect New Mexico where three Gardes had turned their sides and four others have died during the attack, we became confused on who to and not to trust.**

 **And then one morning we woke up without knowing that the** ** _Blight_** **had also been missing together with the two Gardes who were supposed to be guarding the** ** _Blight_** **with their lives.**

 **A total of fifty eight (as far as we know) Gardes had joined Meleek's insurgency. The big question is, how are they able to infiltrate our plans. They seemed to have eyes within the circle of the** ** _Elder's council_** **, the defense center and the Earthen units.**

 **I hate thinking about these things. I want actions. I want to chase him and kill him with my very own hands. Especially now that Threin has his Legacies and Johann has a skill that even a pure blooded Garde like Threin will have a hard time dealing with.**

 ** _We can win. They're ready._**

 **I know we can do it. We can bring them down. We can end this once and for all. We can do it.**

 **If only we can abolish this restraining orders that has been given to me.**

 ** _Dammit!_** **I'm beginning to doubt the wisdom of these** ** _Earthen Councilmen_** **. Are we to act only when they've decided to knock on our front doors?**


	10. Chapter 9

p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"Chapter Seven/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"strongspan style="font-size: 12.0pt;" /span/strongspan style="font-size: 12.0pt;"It's been long since that emincident/em happened. The emincident/em that turned our lives 180 degrees. The incident that molded not only Mom, but also Threin and me./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" emWe were never the same again./em/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" Yesterday is my seventeenth birthday. But who cares? Nobody seems to remember my birthday anymore. The only event everyone remembers is that night when 144 humans were reported dead in Somalia after a great battle./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" A battle where in only six Gardes were killed against a battalion of Somalian pirates./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" But it still wasn't a mission accomplished. Rather, it was a shameful display of retaliation by the Lorics./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" Mom was not put behind the bars though, because it was clear that Meelek had plan this attack to not only disturb Lorien but also weaken its defense faculty./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" Threin on the other hand had suffered extreme trauma for quite some time. He could not focus for more than forty five minutes. He's been haunted by the blood bath that happened that night where in he almost became one of the casualties./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" But as soon as he had developed his legacies at the age of ten (a little earlier than normal), he became vicious. And his motto in life became em"train and train to kill Meelek"/em which is stupid because we've been sparing for years now and he would not let me win a single spar because he thinks he's saving the day from Meelek every time we train together./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" Lately he's been giving me combinations of his flight and super strength legacies./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" Ask me how I defend myself from this brute Threin. With meer half blood Loric strength and stamina. Nothing else./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" Yes. Apparently I have never developed emany /emLegacies emYET/em but I don't think I'll ever have one. Maybe because I'm illegitimate and because Lorien is perfect, they don't tolerate imperfections like me so I don't get a em"gift"/em./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" I'm heading to my class now. Oh yea, I'm back in school again. But not the normal school you'd think it would be./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" Actually it's a gym. I was enrolled by Mom to emJudo/em class this time. I was six when Mom started enrolling me to emmartial arts/em classes. I've been to emKarate/em class for about 3 years. In every class I join in, I try to look weak so I won't get any attention./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" Mom admits that she is not good at hand to hand combats. So she made me enroll into them. I'm just there for the lessons though. Nothing more. All I have to do is memorize the techniques so that I could teach them to Threin after every lesson./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" After what happened to Threin in the emincident/em, Mom thought that he should learn how to defend himself in case Meelek gives us a visit and he hasn't developed any Legacies yet. At first I though it was exciting because that day is also the start of our first sparing. It turned out ugly though,when I was beaten down like a punching bag./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" But I'm getting used to being beaten. Or maybe it's because of the em"Medication"/em./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" I'd rather call it em"Experimentation"/em but em"Medication"/em seemed to be more relieving. I don't know. One time in our trainings, I got the chance to punch Threin on the face. I hit him so hard that his lower lip bled non stop. After seeing his blood, he panicked and fainted. Our initial assessment is that he has a em"blood phobia" /emnot until another training with which my kick met his gut, did we learn that he can only tolerate certain amount of pain./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" He says that his mind seems to amplify the intensity of the pain he's receiving when it knows he had a fatal blow. It's strange. But we cannot escape the reality that Meelek can inflict more pain than I could ever give him if he is to face him in a fight./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" So Mom decided that he'll have to forget how to feel pain. She asked me to try out some herbal solutions and potions made here and in Lorien every now and then to test it's effectiveness. All of them show no results on me and therefore no further results is expected to occur to Threin, so he never took any of them./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" Since none of the em"home remedies"/em worked, Mom made me drink em"Meds"/em especially made for this em"Pain Problem"/em. After I few weeks of taking them, I grew thin and pale. It never caused me anything good. The only effect we got were side effects, which is vomiting blood. We gave up on it and tried emsteroids/em./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" I've been taking it for quite sometime now. It was supposed to boost my immunity to pain, but as I see it, it is more of an appetite booster than pain reliever. I get hungry every hour and I'm gaining some weight./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" Well I don't care. I know it's for the better. Mom knows best. I'd give my life for Threin coz it's the same as giving my life for Lorien. It makes me feel like I'm a hero./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" Well at least I helped Threin. That's what I've always wanted. Help him. Save him (although the Saving part should probably come later. Or maybe not). Because I'm tired of being the one who needed help. So I don't mind being forced to enroll into emKarate, Taekwondo, Jujitsu /emand this emJudo /emstuffs if these will help Threin to protect himself. And being a subject of the emMedication /emif this implies I'm helping Lorienem./em/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" Shortly after Taekwondo lessons, Threin learned how to fly. We were sparing that time when he tried to jump at me but ended up banging his head on a trunk of a tree. Since then, Mom told me that the martial arts class will be for my own benefit./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" Yeah right, because I think I won't be able to develop a single Legacy./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" So much for a half blood, but it's okay. I don't wanna get beaten up without a fight after all. Well, if I can't beat Threin in a sparing, at least I can look cool with some emkungfu/em moves./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" But now I'm starting to get bored in Judo. It's kind of pathetic with all the wrestling and throwing. Say for example, I'd successfully gave Threin an arm lock or a wrestle. Considering his strength, he can reverse the act to mine without a sweat./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" This is stupid. And it gets boring when I can't find any use of it. There was this one time when I threw my 28-year old senior six feet above the ground out of my boredom. I try not to do it again lest they see my real strength. But I feel like doing it again today./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" I just wanna drop this class and just go to Mang Tony's place and practice the violin. I've been studying under him for quite some time now. He was like my Cephan in music, in combat and in life. He's been like a emfather/em to me especially when the rest of my em"family" members/em are in Lorien (I don't count my real father as a part of our family because he never was and he never will be in case he decides to come back). Mang Tony teaches me how I could transform a brute energy released back to it's producer. I always use it to Threin and it always works. Mang Tony says that brute fighters rely on their strength alone embut/em strong warriors uses both his and the opponents energy to win a fight./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" The only problem is that this is not emSparta/em. Threin can fly and I can't do anything whenever he floats. That's the reason why he always wins./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" Oh God, I don't wanna go to emJudo/em. I don't wanna go. I don't wanna.../span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" Alright, I won't go anymore. I'll just visit Mang Tony and hopefully, Jean is there too for her music lessons. And I hope she still remembers my birthday./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" In my dreams./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" emBingo! /emShe's here! And she sings wonderfully. As wonderful as she is./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" Well, she's not the em"type"/em of girl that everyone would prefer dating with. She's chubby and a little shorter than I am. Her hair is a long, straight black hair that flows beautifully along with the breeze. For me, she's the most beautiful girl in town. She is very smart too. I guess she's smarter than me or Threin even if we're already Lorics and she's not./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" emWooooppsss!/em Someone poke his finger in the hole I'm peaking at./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "Get in here, lad." It was Mang Tony. I hesitated but I can't do anything about it when Jean peaked at the window and waved at me. Can I? "You're not supposed to be here until 3pm."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "Class sucks." I say after waving back to Jean./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "Hello Johann. Yeah, school sucks." She laughs. I enter the door to find them working on a new song./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "Since when did you started agreeing with each other, huh emlove birds/em?" He's teases me, I know how he does it./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "emLove bird/em? Was that another character in your book?" I say as Mang Tony grabs a stool for me to sit on to./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "I actually like emlove birds/em." She answered. I almost answered em"I like them too. Because you like them."/em/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "My books are not for empuppy love/em nor for a embrain dead/em like you, lad." He made me sit beside Jean. I blushed. "Since the emviolinist/em is here, he might wanna jam with us, might he?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "Yeah sure. I just don't know what song you're trying to learn." I said pointing to the music stand in front of Jean./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "It's a french song. Mr.T here picked it up for me." She handed me the sheet music. "Title's emChantons les Amours de Jean/em. It says in the chorus that a emJohnny/em guy loves emJean/em whatever. Mr.T picked it for me since it has my name on it. And I really, emreally /emlove the melody."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" emI love you too/em. I mean, emI love that melody too. And you are my melody so../em Oh shut up! Have the guts to tell her that!/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" I snap from my trans when Mang Tony ask if we're ready. "W-w-wait! W-what am I supposed to play in here?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "Hmmm... Well I guess we'll have to play it first so you could listen to the melody and then maybe on the second stanza you can make a harmony? Or something?" She suggested./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" emGod! I'm dumb in front of her./em/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "Will you look at that? The emLady bird/em has the brains." Jean pretended to bow. "And the emGulliboy/em a emschmuck./em What a shame." Says Mang Tony./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" em Dumb dumb dumb!/em/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "W-well okay. Let's hear it?" I try to retract the conversation./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "You know lad," he wiggles his right index finger while taking a seat beside the upright piano. "I always thought you were musically gifted..." Here he goes again. "...but now, I don't..."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "Uh shut up! Can you just play the freaking song?" I try to sound tough while Jean silently laughs at us./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "Yeah yeah alright, here we go."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" The music is awesome. It's emreally really/em good. She sings it perfectly. I mean, no bias. It's emreally really/em perfect./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" And so when I had the feel. When I caught the mood. I began playing with them. Trying not to overpower the other parts of the music and just set the flow. Set the waves of the wonderful sea of pitches and rhythm. And before we knew it, the song ended perfectly./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "That's... That wasn't bad, lad. Not bad at all." He said to me wide eyed. I got a little disappointed when I heard his comment coz I actually thought It was perfect./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "No. I think it's perfect." She said and I blushed. emWe're perfect together./em "I mean I loved the way you harmonized with me. I-it was amazing. You did an amazing job Johann. You totally do."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "Thanks." I say trying to hide my red face./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "No, I should be the one thanking you. Seriously. You are an amazing musician. I've never heard anyone play like you do."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "And your voice is exceptional too. I love the shape of your voice, it's not the kind of voice most sopranos have. I mean, they like their voices thin and twangy or something." I said to compliment her back. I mean it./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "You didn't just say I'm fat did you?" She pouted./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "No! That's not what I meant. I mean I like the way you shape your voice."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "You mean my voice is fat?" She raises her right brow./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "I didn't say that. I mean..."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" She squeezed my cheeks with both of her hands, "I'm just kidding, dummy!" I let out a sigh of relief. "I know what my voice shapes like. And I think, I like your compliment. Thanks for that."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" She turned to face Mang tony who's been laughing silently at the corner. "Well Mr.T, I've got to get going now. I still have to go to the university later so, thanks for the extra fifteen minutes. It was a treasure."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "My pleasure dear angel." They shake hands after Jean fixed her things to her backpack./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "Bye Mr.T! Bye Johann!" And then she's gone for today./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" Oh my gosh! I badly wish to alter my name to emJohnny,/em how great it must've been if she sings my name in a song. I am emvery very /emthankful that I didn't go to Judo class today. emVery very/em thankful./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" The next day, I passed by the gym's lobby to drop the Judo lessons when I saw a poster. It says:/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" em"Katana Rocks! Samurai Rocks! Ninja Sucks! Learn the way of the sword and beat some Ninja ass. Enroll now! Limited offer and slot!"/em/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" emSweet!/em That's just exactly what I need./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" To kick Threin's butt, I need to learn how to swing a paddle./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" I took one of the slots. And it changed my life forever./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" As I practice my new found emArt,/em I started to win over Threin on trainings. I finally had a match with him./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" emWho needs legacies now?/em/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" One day, Mang Tony secretly took one of my favorite practice emkatana/ems and sent it to his Loric friend. When I came looking for it the next day, he said he hasn't seen it for quite sometime. And on my eighteenth birthday, he told me that he has found my sword. But before he handed it to me, he broke it into half and said that the emkatana/em was awfully made./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" He then handed me a newem katana/em forged in Lorien. Made of a rare indestructible metal only seen in Lorien. The ornaments on the handle is astonishingly crafted with a gold-like metal./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "That is called emIcarus/em. A precious metal in Lorien." He told me as he notices me running my fingers across the ornament. "It's pretty much the same with gold, only that It's very light and it never corrodes."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "How'd you get this? I mean how much?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "emHahaha!/em This sword is made by one of the finest blacksmiths in Lorien. His name is emGal Lem./em" I gave him a glare. A look that's enough to tell him em"so? You didn't answer my question."/em/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "There are certain things that you have to understand if you wanna go to Lorien." Yeah right, as if I'm going there or as if I'm going anywhere, "Almost everything in Lorien is superior to Earth. If you think diamonds are precious, think again. I can show you a mineral that is five times more precious than that."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" I shook my head impatiently, "And the point is?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "Gal Lem is a very good friend of mine. That's why when I told him to copy the aesthetics of your sword, emVOILA!/em He made it for me free of charge!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" I was about to say em"Wow, and you didn't even have to pay for the materials?"/em when he added, "The point is, nothing in Lorien's splendor can compare to the glory of a Loric friendship."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "Wow, and you didn't even have to pay for the materials?" There I've said it./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "Exactly."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "It doesn't make sense. Who in his right mind would spend that much for a emfriend?/em I mean, this could mean a lot to him and his emfamily./em"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "On the contrary, I makes a perfect sense. Lorien is one big family. And let not the systems of this world confuse you. The economy of Lorien does not depend on money. To us, money is not a necessity."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" I open the lid of the sword halfway, "The perfect planet Lorien, huh?" I gaze on my reflection on the blade, "How I wish I could go there."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "I believe you will, someday." It felt true. And I'm looking forward to it. "I'll try to sneak you there on your 21st birthday." His eyes told me he will do it./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" I cut myself from my delusions and snap to reality, "Nah. That wouldn't be necessary. I don't want you get punished for it."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "One day can't be that bad, could it be?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" I remember the time when I got in trouble for wanting too many toys,"I already have a splendid sword-emI'd bet my teacher would wish he could have one for himself too/em-what else could I wish for?" Surely this sword is more than I deserve from Mang Tony. In fact, he's never compelled to give me anything on my birthday. And I am very very grateful that he bothered to give. After all, it's the thought that counts. Mom and Threin never seemed to remember my birthday anymore, so I'm glad that someone remembered. "Thank you emDa.../em" I really wanna say it, because he's been a real family to me when all the real members of mine had drifted away. But I can't. I don't know why I can't. "Thank you, Mang Tony. Thank you so much."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" emDad./em/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" He hugged me and I return it./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" We went out it try the emkatana/em which no description can derive for a couple of hours and went fishing after that. When we got back to Mang Tony's cottage, I was surprise to see Jean fixing the table for supper./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" She said it was her mom who cooked the food when I praised the cooking (which was truly the most delicious food I've ever tasted)./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "emThat/em does emNOT/em work on me, Johann." She says./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "It's true! I really mean it. If my Mom could cook like yours do, I'll..." I bit my tounge./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "You're what? You're gonna get fat? Is that what you're about to say?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "What? No! Where'd you get that?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "Don't tell me it's your birthday, I'd still hurt you." She's laughing but I know she means it./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" We're almost done eating when she added, "Oh yeah time for dessert!" She closed the fridge after taking out a Graham ref cake. It is topped with cream, crushed graham and mango./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" When I ate a spoonful of it, it sent me to emdessert heaven./em/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "emUgh!/em Shut up." She said. There must be something in my facial expression./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" "I just came down from heaven." I shoved another spoon full of the cake. "Whoever made this must be an Angel." I say while my mouth is still full./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" She shook her her slightly and said, "It is I, my dear lord." She bowed like she's a king's servant. "Thank you muh-lord."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" But it was I who washed the dishes to conclude the night./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt;" So much for a birthday boy./span/p 


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter Eight

"Hey pal! What's up?" Threin poked me on the back while I pack my things for Davao.

"Same old routine." I show him my traveling bag. I pack all the things I'll need to entertain Dee. Ate Meridith's daughter. She just turned one, and I promised to go there and play with her every time Mom and Threin goes to Lorien.

"What happened in here?" He dives to my bed.

Long pause.

"Nothing yet. You're going back to Lorien for _Quarter Moon_ and I'm heading to Davao for Dee. That is what'll happen."

"You don't get it. The _incident_. I-it took away our lives." His voice muffled for facing down my pillow.

"It almost took _your_ life. Tell you the truth, I don't really see any difference from before _'the incident'_ and after _'the incident'_." I lied.

"Stop pretending! This isn't a joke, man." He faces me while I put my toiletries in the bag. "Seriously. We've never been the same anymore. We seldom talk. _You_ seldom talk-which is a little normal-no I mean, I seldom talk to you and neither do you."

"Maybe it's because of the trauma. Maybe you still have it somewhere behind your skull."

"That's not true. And even if that is true that doesn't provide enough reason for us to ignore each other for _YEARS. FOR YEARS._ "

"THAT is NOT true. We never ignored each other. I think we're still best of friends."

"We ignored each others _FEELINGS_ , Johann." He began to sit down. "You see..." he stops me from packing my things. "...when was the last time we talked like this? When was the last time we hugged each other? When was the last time you told me about Jean? I don't even know your birthday anymore!"

"Don't worry about it." I pity myself a little because I always give him something one week before they depart to Lorien for his birthday.

Okay. Actually, that hurts a _lot_.

"How can I not worry about it, Yo? Look, I have to say this before we leave for Lorien again." He fixed his hands on my shoulders to make me focus on his eyes. "You are my brother, and what I'm worried about is that you are the ones who suffered a lot. I was the one present in that _incident._ I was the one whom the _incident_ had failed to kill. But what I'm frightened about is that you were the ones who was killed by _it._ " There were tears flowing from both of his eyes. "You were shut down by Mom. She barely looks at you. She never appreciate you. She totally erased your existence in this family." A dagger of ice seemed to pierce my heart and my eyes bled tears. "I. I shut you down too. I beat you up in training. All I did for what- _Like ten-twelve years?_ -is hurt you. Hurt you physically, mentally and emotionally. I thought I am making you strong but I began to realize I am wrong..." He paused, "...as I see you still have no match for me _Hah!_ " He laughed. While crying.

" _Shit!_ And you said you're serious. And you cried, man. You cried manly tears bro." We laughed. While crying.

"I was just preventing a flood. I know you can cry a lot, squirt. I thought maybe you've just developed your first Legacy." He threw his arms to the ceiling, "The legacy of flooding a whole village with tears."

" _Ha. Ha. Ha._ Very funy." I say sarcastically. "What are you really trying to tell me Threin?"

"Well, I don't know. I just. I-uh...I just thought that you were the best buddy I had ever since. You can never be compared to anyone else. I just uhm... You know, after the _incident,_ I just forgot about it. I don't know why, but I completely forgot about our friendship and our brotherhood. And I'm really really sorry for that. I really do Yo. And I hope you'd know I do."

"Threin, I'm nineteen now. I'm not the little Johann you once knew. I am strong now. Maybe not physically strong as you are, but I am strong in my convictions. I wanted to help. And one of the best things that I could do to help you is to not bother you. If you're worried about sparing, please don't. I don't want you to take it easy on me. I am not as strong as Meelek and you will have to give more than your best shot to be able to quiet him. I want you to know that I'm also trying my best to strengthen you. Because I wanna help you, and by doing so I know I'm also helping Lorien too."

"That's the sad part brother. What did Lorien ever do to you for you to give them that much loyalty."

"I donnow. It just felt right I guess. I think Lorien has given me hope, at the lowest point of my life when I needed my Dad. The stories of Lorien had given me comfort."

"Very idealistic. But I have to tell you, you're wrong. These people doesn't care about you. If they are so desirable, at least they could've just enlisted you in the _Census._ "

"We both know that the _Census_ is nothing but statistics. I can be _Number 21.5_ or something."

"Johan that's not the point. You don't have to do this if you're only forced to. You don't have to spar with me, or baby sit Meridith's daughter while we enjoy ourselves in the feasting and celebration of the Quarter Moon. You can just play the _banjo_ and maybe have a concert in America."

"It's called the _Violin_ , not _banjo_." I said, "I choose to help. I will always choose to help. And that's my decision, not Mom's. Okay?"

Threin let's out a sigh. "Howkay, if that's what you want to do. I just don't want to see you miserable, Johann. Mom's world is miserable, so is mine but that doesn't mean your life should be miserable too."

"We're in this together. As long as the secret is still intact, I swear I'd do my best to protect it. We're a family, and that's what this family do. Protect the secrets of Lorien. Protect peace."

We lagged for a while. We both know that the conversation is not over _yet_...but there's nothing much to say. If you know what I mean. Then I continued packing as he head for the door.

"Hey," he called out, "...don't think that I'm not trying take home something for you from Lorien. I just...in the past few years I couldn't sneak it out in my bag so...it doesn't mean that I forgot your birthday I'd also forgot my promise. I will get it for you this time."

"Yeah okay, whatever." I felt a little touched though.

"With that, I'll see you _next next next_ week."

"See you." He closed the door behind me. "You were right. The _incident_ had killed me instead...although I'm talking about the _other incident_. The time when the Census came for your enlisting. That was the _incident_ that took away my life." I know he's gone and that he hasn't heard me.

I don't intend it to be heard by him.

After they've gone home he didn't give me anything. Maybe he just forgot about it again.

 **Meelek has been quiet for the past ten years. My guess is that they are trying to figure out how the** ** _Clanberrus_** **works.**

 **I don't even know how this** ** _Clanberrus_** **thing works too. In fact none of us knows how these ancient items work, only the Elders knew what they are for. All I know is that once the** ** _Clanberrus_** **is activated by the** ** _Blight_** **, then and there will we be able to see what the** ** _Clanberrus_** **is capable of doing.**

 **The** ** _Blight_** **was supposed to be kept in Jethro's custody. But after our defeat in Somalia and our failure to protect New Mexico where three Gardes had turned their sides and four others have died during the attack, we became confused on who to and not to trust.**

 **And then one morning we woke up without knowing that the** ** _Blight_** **had also been missing together with the two Gardes who were supposed to be guarding the** ** _Blight_** **with their lives.**

 **A total of fifty eight (as far as we know) Gardes had joined Meleek's insurgency. The big question is, how are they able to infiltrate our plans. They seemed to have eyes within the circle of the** ** _Elder's council_** **, the defense center and the Earthen units.**

 **I hate thinking about these things. I want actions. I want to chase him and kill him with my very own hands. Especially now that Threin has his Legacies and Johann has a skill that even a pure blooded Garde like Threin will have a hard time dealing with.**

 ** _We can win. They're ready._**

 **I know we can do it. We can bring them down. We can end this once and for all. We can do it.**

 **If only we can abolish this restraining orders that has been given to me.**

 ** _Dammit!_** **I'm beginning to doubt the wisdom of these** ** _Earthen Councilmen_** **. Are we to act only when they've decided to knock on our front doors?**


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

"Whoa! My half-blood survived!" Shouts Meelek gesturing an appropriate act for the words he is saying. "I always knew who'd turn sides. I always knew." And he let's out a wicked laugh.

Mom's eyes widen as she sees me.

 **I can't believe it! Johann?! He's alive!** ** _My son is alive!_**

My eyes swept over the result of the previous fight.

Threin, having a hard time on pulling the spear out of his palm.

Jacobbus unable to do anything. Yet his eyes are open. He's watching everything.

Erin lies motionless on the ground. There's no way I can tell if she's still breathing.

Healer wiping off blood on his sword. Trying to look manly.

A large crystal sphere where Torch's body lies breathless.

The toasted corpse of Harpy.

And the shocked Mom who'd scream for Erin and Threin but not for me.

I look over to Meelek. His ominous staff glowing and taunting. Almost as if mocking the power of the Gardes.

"Art thou sure thee wanted to join us?" He addresses me, "Coz' if thou art do, there is no turning back." There's something in his smile that tells me I shouldn't do it.

 _But I will. For the sake of myself._

"Yes I do." I say and walked towards his right side to face my family. "I want your power. I want to have power for myself."

 _ **What?! What is he thinking?!**_

 **If I could just access his mind. I'd know why he's doing this.**

 **"What are you doing?! Johann, stop that!" When he won't stop walking towards Meelek I shouted once more, "I had to do it, son! I had to save Erin instead." A tear traveled across my cheek. "Even if it hurts me. Even if I know you'll die! I had to do it! It's for Lorien, my son. It's for Lorien!"**

I gave Mom a blank face. She's not getting any clue of what I'm up to.

This time, it's time for me to be recognized. It's time for me to be on the front page. Not on the front line. It's time for me to overpower Threin. It's time for me to be superior.

This is not for Lorien. Not any more. This is for myself. Only for myself.

 **I could see the indifference in his face. He's fully determined to do this.**

 **He's desperate.**

 **Like Tony he became desperate.**

 **Speak of the devil.**

 **Tony materialized beside Johann so that Johann is between him and Meelek.**

 **"I saw** ** _this_** **in the house." He says while pulling off a piece of golden metal from his pocket. "Looks like it's been there all along." I turned over to Threin who finally manages to pull the spear out of his hand.**

 **When he sees my inquiring eyes, he shook his head in defeat.**

" _Ahh! The Blight! Finally, it's within my reach."_ Says Meelek while pulling out the Clanberrus from his jacket. "For so long I have waited for this moment!"

Mang Tony must've searched the house while we were fighting right before I was about to be crushed by the ice boulder.

Meelek let's the Clanberrus float using his TK while Mang Tony hands him over the Blight.

This is it.

I can now win over all of them.

 **No.**

Meelek extends his right hand to get the Blight from Mang Tony.

I watch his arms until they're parallel with each other and by the time he picked the Blight from Mang Tony, I drew my katana.

The Blight, the Clanberrus and the Staff all fell to the ground almost simultaneously.

It took 3 seconds before Meelek knew both of his hands are off his body. I took the time to bury my sword in his intestines. Blood gushed from his wound and his mouth. Blood spilled to my sword. My face. My mouth.

 **As soon as Meelek's staff left his grip. I felt my Legacies spark inside my body.**

 **Johann kicked Meelek's body away from him and turned to pierce his sword on Tony's right foot. He pins it deep to the ground.**

 **I also watch Dozah perform his duplicating Legacies. Only then did I realize I had to act.**

Meelek's body shook violently as he met the soil.

Mang Tony planned to retrieve the ancient relics but before he does, I pierced my sword on his feet, so he was pinned kneeling on the ground. I pushed my sword's handle deeper to his foot and to the ground so he'll have a hard time removing it if he tries to escape.

"I'm sorry." I whispered to him. I said that as my apology for piercing his foot.

And then I saw Mom extend her hands to Mang Tony.

 **"No Mom!" Johann shouted, "I need him!" He needs him for what? It doesn't matter. I'm only using my TK to stop him from doing anymore betraying act anyway.**

 **I nod at him to tell him I won't hurt him.**

 **Dozah's dupes had now reached about twenty in numbers and counting.**

 **Then I knew it's time for Threin to use his last Legacy.**

 **I turned to him and shouted,** ** _"Now!"_**

 _"Now!"_ Shouted Mom as two dozens of Healer guys make their way to kill me and a dozen more to kill them.

Threin and Mom stood and simultaneously whistled loudly. Milliseconds passed when we felt a slight rumbling on the ground.

Coming from the woods, a total of forty wolves run straight towards the direction of the Healer guys. Pursued every enemy that stand their way.

This was our _plan B_. If we fail to do our job, we leave the rest to _them_.

There is power in numbers.

The power of Mom and Threin altogether.

The power of the wolves altogether.

And our powers altogether.

 **Just as I thought we're winning, something tells me we're forgetting something. And in a blink of an eye, Jacobbus went for the staff and the Clanberrus. After another blink, he is no where to be found.**

 **** ** _Damn bastard!_**

One millisecond the battered Jacobbus appeared right in front of me. Before I could do anything to stop him, he's gone with the staff and the Clanberrus. Another millisecond passed, he vanished.

I quickly picked up the Blight after witnessing how easily Jacobbus stole the other relic. And when I stood after retrieving it, one Healer guy plunges to me with his broad sword ready to slice me into half.

I have no time to dodge it.

And with no weapon at hand, I again faces my doom.

 **I will not let any danger touch him again.**

 **I feel the icy feeling on my toes, try to measure Dozah's distance from me, try to feel the connection in the air...then stomped.**

I was ready to face my death again when death met my opponent himself. His face was cut into two after receiving an ice spear from the ground.

As immediately as he dies, the other Healers vanished like they were bubbles.

 _And with that, we know we've won the battle._

"Mom!" Threin calls out to Mom, "Erin!" Mom Immediately dropped his grip on Mang Tony and head to Erin who's lying motionless on Threin's lap.

"Are you okay?" I asked Mang Tony, "I'm so sorry I had to do that." I took away my sword from his flesh.

"Johann..." He whispered, "I am very very sorry..." Strength escape his will, and I know he'd fully surrender the fight now.

" _Sssshhhh..._ stop...let's talk about it later, okay?" And then after that he fainted.

 _"I-i f-f-fey-l-d th-i.."_ For one second I thought it was from Mang Tony's mouth. But when the voice spoke again I know it's from Meelek. _"F-f-fyld-d th-i.."_

I couldn't make out any thing from what he's muttering. Until he'd repeat it five more times.

 _"I failed thee."_ I figured.

Who? Who did he fail?

After he'd repeat it a couple more times, death silenced him.

I can hear Threin and Mom talk to each other from afar but I find it hard to comprehend every word they are saying. I only hear insignificant words like _"Let's", "of", "unnecessary"._

My mind races from all the trauma and the shock that I should have felt during the battle. The close death encounters are sinking inside my nerves. The unlikely victory of a suicide plan. And the regret of not having retrieved the other relic.

I sit there clutching the relic they all have been crazy about. I sit there comforting a Loric traitor on my lap. I sit there searching peace from the sky that once tried to burn the life out of me.

 _What's next?_

 _Is this all over now?_

 _Or it's just the beginning of the end?_

I've lost my urge to sense awareness on my surrounding. Seeing things but not paying attention to them.

I see Mom pointing to a spot.

Threin moves there leaving Erin to the ground.

I see Mom use her Legacies to enclose Erin with ice.

I see Threin break the sphere of ice with his bare hands. Punching and punching until it cracks.

I even thought I saw the biggest wolf in the pack turn into an owl.

Many more things happened vainly to me. I was blank.

" _Hey!_ It's all over now." Threin says while slightly shaking my shoulders. He must've noticed my blankness.

I faced down as I see Mang Tony's wound bleeding badly. _Oh no_. I need to do something. I tore a sleeve on my hoody and tie it to his open wound. That should keep the blood from flowing rapidly.

I turned up to Threin, "Thanks."

"Thanks for what?" He chuckles.

I gave him a shrug, "I don't know."

He chuckles again, "Don't thank me yet. I haven't given you my _reward_ for you."

"What for?" I say clueless.

"For saving us all." He says. _"You saved us all."_

"Did I?"

"Yes you did. That's why I'm giving you a reward." He put two of his fingers on his lip and whistled high pitch. After a minute, a red Owl perched on his shoulder.

 _No way!_ I shook my head in disbelief.

"He's a young ones. About one year old." He extends his arm to my shoulder. "He's yours now."

The Owl traveled his arm to my shoulder.

"Or maybe you could just consider him as a _gift_ from me." He started walking towards Mom, away from me, "For the past birthdays that I've failed to give you a gift. _Uhh..._ " He thinks for a moment, "And for all the birthdays I'll forget about in the future." He winked. I get it.

I touched the head of my new pet, and to my surprise he responded intimately. Almost as if he considers me as a friend already.

"Sorry, it took me a while..." Threin shouts from afar, "I had to wait for Usha to give birth...coz it's hard to sneak an adult ones." He gave me a salute and went on carrying frozen Erin as Mom finishes putting the corpse on two large garbage bag.

This was awesome, all the other past birthdays he'd miss is well paid for. But I need to give him a name first, "I'll call you..." I hesitate for a while because I find it unfitting to name him that.

But who cares? I can call him whatever name I want.

 _"Blight."_


End file.
